It was a Classic weekend for volleyball
Bruins hold off Long Beach in four to grab title of UCLA
tourney
By Eric Branch
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
It took two hours and 15 minutes, seven yellow cards and one
wake-up call, but the top-ranked UCLA men’s volleyball team finally
overcame a tough No. 6 Long Beach State team 12-15, 15-10, 15-10,
15-11 in the final of the 19th UCLA Classic Saturday night.
The victory gave the Bruins (22-1 overall, 16-0 in Mountain
pacific Sports Federation) their 12th career Classic title and
fifth in a row. In addition, it marked UCLA’s 31st consecutive home
victory. However, despite the attractive numbers, the evening had
it’s share of ugly moments for the Bruins.
"I didn’t think we played very well tonight," UCLA head coach Al
Scates said. "It’s good to win ugly, and that’s what I felt we did
tonight. It wasn’t smooth. Nothing went easily."
Indeed, before the 1,908 spectators at Pauley Pavilion could get
comfortable in their seats, the 49ers had raced out to a quick 9-3
first-game lead. Long Beach (17-8, 12-8) hit .420 in the first game
while passing nails.
"They came out passing very well and siding out very well," said
UCLA’s Paul Nihipali, who was named tournament MVP. "We just
couldn’t get them out of a passing rhythm."
The mouths of the fired-up 49ers also stayed in a consistent
rhythm throughout the night. In the first game Long Beach picked up
the first two of their five yellow cards for excessive jawing. UCLA
added two of their own, including one by swing hitter Erik
Sullivan.
"They were talking a lot of stuff," Sullivan (match-high 13
digs) said. "I think Ken (Taylor), the head ref let it get a little
out of hand. I didn’t start it out but I’m not going to let that go
if they’re getting away with it."
Not surprisingly, the 49ers had their own version on the war of
words.
"UCLA has a habit of rubbing it in," LBSU head coach Ray Ratelle
said. "The guys were very competitive tonight."
During breaks from the cross court bickering, volleyball was
being played on the court. After dropping the first game, the
Bruins grabbed the second frame behind six kills from Nihipali
(match-high 32 kills) and five from quick hitter Jeff Nygaard (25
kills, 10 digs, seven blocks). The Bruins knotted the frame despite
hitting just .143 as setter Stein Metzger struggled at times.
"I think Stein had one of his rare bad nights and it set our
hitters’ timing off a little bit," Scates said. "He just said ‘Stay
with me fellas and we’ll get better,’ And it did."
It also helped that the 49er’s 6-foot-7-inch middle blocker Tom
Hoff proved more human as the match wore on. Hoff, who finished
with 27 kills and 10 blocks, posted five of his 12 hitting errors
in the final game as the Bruins rallied from a 10-8 deficit.
"As the match wore on he didn’t have the same vertical jump,"
Scates said. "He finally started making some errors at the
end."
* * *
UCLA advanced to the final with a 15-4, 15-5, 17-16 victory over
No. 8 Cal State Northridge (15-8, 11-6) Friday night. Nygaard just
missed a triple-double with a 28-kill (.565 hitting percentage),
11-block and nine-dig performance. Sullivan added another 13 digs
in the victory as the Bruins outblocked the Matadors 20 to
five.