Stanford d. UCLA 30-28, 30-27, 28-30, 27-30,
18-16 UCLA d. Pacific 30-21, 30-21, 30-18
By Diamond Leung
Daily Bruin Contributor
The look of disgust that sophomore outside hitter Cameron Mount
had on his face throughout the match said it all.
It was an all-around frustrating night for the No. 2 UCLA
men’s volleyball team (14-5, 8-3 MPSF) as it lost the 24th
Annual Kilgour Cup to No. 7 Stanford (10-4, 7-3) Friday 30-28,
30-27, 28-30, 27-30, 18-16 at Pauley Pavilion.
“The boys were trying, but we just didn’t have
it,” UCLA Head Coach Al Scates said. “We weren’t
the team we were Wednesday night (against USC).”
The Bruin offense struggled the entire match. Mount
couldn’t buy a kill in the early going, hitting at a negative
percentage. Junior opposite hitter Matt Komer didn’t fare
much better, hitting .000. Both were pulled from the lineup during
the course of the match.
“I couldn’t hit a ball in the court, and it was
terrible. I don’t know what the problem was,” said
Mount, who ripped off his headband in anger and threw it to the
sidelines after one of his nine hitting errors.
Senior outside hitter Mark Williams had a double-double with 14
kills (.462) and 15 digs, but even he wasn’t immune to the
frustration that the team felt. The normally soft-spoken team
captain was hit with a yellow card for arguing a referee’s
call in a tight game two, giving away a free point to the
Cardinal.
The referees made controversial calls all night, but Scates
refused to pin the loss on the officiating crew.
“Stanford played better than we did, and that’s why
we lost,” he said.
The Bruins were down 2-0, but they did not go under easily.
Junior opposite hitter Ian Burnham came off the bench and pounded a
career-high 20 kills, carrying the team on his back into game
five.
“I think it says a lot that we came back after playing
terribly,” Mount said.
But the Bruins could not capitalize, even with Stanford
All-American sophomore outside hitter Curt Toppel on the bench
after he pulled his hip flexor in game four. The Cardinal saved
three match points before freshman middle blocker Billy Clayton
stuffed sophomore quick hitter Scott Morrow to complete the upset
win for Stanford.
“This win is huge for us to beat (UCLA), especially at
Pauley,” said Toppel, who notched a match-high 26 kills.
“To win in five makes it an even greater win for us.
It’s a great feeling.”
The Bruins did get to take out their anger on No. 11 Pacific
(5-9, 3-8) Saturday night, routing the Tigers 30-21, 30-21, 30-18
at Pauley Pavilion. Mount got back on track, hammering a match-high
12 kills to go along with nine digs.
UCLA will play nonconference matches against No. 13 Concordia
(15-3, 9-1 EIVA) tonight and Rutgers-Newark (4-13, 3-4 EIVA)
Wednesday at Pauley Pavilion.