ANGELA LEE Sophomore quick hitter Scott
Morrow jumps toward the ball as it leaves setter
Rich Nelson’s fingertips in a game earlier this
season. Stanford d. UCLA 30-28, 30-28, 30-24
UCLA d. Pacific 30-22, 30-22, 30-27
By Diamond Leung
Daily Bruin Contributor
PALO ALTO ““ It must be Christmas in April for the UCLA
men’s volleyball team. It got everything it wished for in the
third seed in the MPSF Tournament and a home playoff game. UCLA
even gets a third crack at Stanford.
The No. 3 Bruins can’t ask for much more ““
especially after getting embarrassed by the No. 5 Cardinal Friday
night at Maples Pavilion, 30-28, 30-28, 30-24. UCLA bounced back to
sweep No. 10 Pacific (10-13, 6-11 MPSF) Saturday at the Alex G.
Spanos Center 30-22, 30-22, 30-27, setting the stage for
UCLA-Stanford Part III in the first round of the MPSF
Tournament.
“We want to play Stanford,” said UCLA Head Coach Al
Scates. “That was our choice ““ the team’s, the
staff’s, and my personal choice. We have not yet played our
best game against them.”
Apparently not. The Bruins (20-7, 12-5), who also lost to the
Cardinal March 9 (14-8, 10-7), were swept for the first time since
February 1999.
“We just looked dead out there,” said junior outside
hitter Matt Komer. “We weren’t playing our game, and we
just weren’t ready.”
Stanford was sure ready to play after being upset by No. 8 UC
Irvine in three games the night before, clinching a home playoff
game for UCLA.
“We were significantly better tonight than we were last
night,” said Stanford Head Coach Ruben Nieves. “Coming
off a loss, we were determined to play better.”
The Cardinal offense once again unleashed its two-headed monster
on the Bruins. Sophomore outside hitter Curt Toppel tallied a
match-high 18 kills while junior quick hitter Marcus Skacel added
14 of his own.
“We were able to have a lot of emotion at home,”
Toppel said. “The home crowd helps you out.”
While Stanford enjoyed the home court advantage, nothing went
right for UCLA at Maples ““ not even the scorekeeping.
With the score tied at 14 in the second game, the referee
awarded Stanford a point after sophomore middle blocker Scott
Morrow apparently double-hit the ball. After the Bruins vehemently
argued the call and lost, the Cardinal were accidentally awarded an
additional point to make the score 16-14.
When the UCLA statistician pointed out the error a few plays
later, the Stanford officials decided that the score was correct as
it was and continued play.
The error proved significant when UCLA lost game two 30-28.
However, it was three straight Bruin hitting errors that gave the
Cardinal the final three points of the game.
The UCLA attack struggled all night. Sophomore outside hitter
Cameron Mount hit .000 while Komer hit .133. Scates even pulled
sophomore setter Rich Nelson in the third game for little-used
senior Dan Conners, who saw his first action in three months.
“We came out flat, and we stayed flat the whole
night,” Conners said.
“All in all, we just played below the level of play that
we’ve become accustomed to,” Scates added.
The Bruins did get better the following night playing Pacific, a
team eliminated from playoff contention the night before.
Senior outside hitter Mark Williams led the way, serving a
career-high seven aces to go along with seven digs. Mount notched
11 kills while freshman libero Adam Shrader added nine digs.
The easy win clinched the third seed and a date with Stanford
this Saturday. Scates and the Bruins are looking forward to the
showdown.
“We played probably our worst two matches of the year
against Stanford,” Scates said. “Stanford is a team
I’d like to play in the playoffs because we’re capable
of so much better.”
The Cardinal also can’t wait to get it on with the
Bruins.
“Heck, if you can’t get focused and fired up for
UCLA, with all the things they’ve accomplished, you’re
never going to be fired up,” Nieves said.
“You know the road to the NCAA Championships goes through
UCLA, so (the win) definitely gives us a lot more
confidence,” he added.
The Bruins will get to host the first-round matchup, but they
have to avoid another off night. Otherwise, the Cardinal will
eliminate them and advance with yet another gift-wrapped win.