UCLA d. CSUN 30-25, 30-28, 30-23
By Diamond Leung
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
NORTHRIDGE “”mdash; The only thing as good as the UCLA
men’s volleyball team was the heckling at the Matadome.
After all, there wasn’t much else for Cal State Northridge
fans to do on a Wednesday night while watching the top-ranked
Bruins quickly dispatch the No. 12 Matadors, 30-25, 30-28,
30-23.
“Cameron Mount looks 30 years old!” a fan
yelled.
Well, close enough. Mount is actually a 23-year-old junior whose
headband makes him look even more like a grizzled veteran. The
outside hitter sure played like one, leading his team with 14
kills, six blocks and three aces.
“It was good to play away and win when the crowd was
getting into it a little bit,” Mount said. “We got a
lead and held on.”
“Chris Jalapeña!” fans chanted, referring to
sophomore middle blocker Chris Peña.
Peña was hot, all right. It was his jump serve that kept
CSUN off-balance, and he hit for a match-high .350 hitting
percentage.
“Matt Komer looks like Keanu Reeves!” another fan
yelled.
Once again, the fan was half right. Komer, the soft-spoken team
captain, probably has as much acting ability as does Reeves. But
Komer can also play volleyball, as the senior outside hitter
registered 13 kills, six digs and five blocks.
The Bruins blocked out the heckling, and the Matadors while they
were at it.
“They weren’t playing well because our blocking was
stopping their momentum,” Komer said. “We knew that
they were going to go to their big left-hander.”
Even so, 6-foot-10 senior opposite hitter Eckhard Walter racked
up 22 kills for CSUN, quite an accomplishment in only three games
of play.
“That guy ““ he’s the franchise player,”
UCLA head coach Al Scates said, shaking his head. “He’s
got a whip of an arm. We just made sure that we had a body in front
of him all night.”
But the Bruins pretty much stopped everyone else, holding CSUN
to a measly .184 hitting percentage.
The Bruin offense was also coming through. UCLA (15-3, 10-2
MPSF) finished with a .297 hitting clip.
“They were committing to our middle blockers the whole
match,” Scates said. “But that’s OK ““ we
just went to the outside.”
The Matadors (9-7, 5-6) were out-hit, out-blocked and simply
over-matched.
So when their fans directed unfounded chants of
“overrated” to UCLA, the Bruins could only laugh.
“That’s why I wear my headband,” Mount said,
chucking.
Bring it on, the Bruins say.