Road to Final
Four begins
for volleyball
UCLA tackles BYU in
MPSF semifinal tonight,
Hawaii meets UCSB in
opener at Pauley Pavilion
By Eric Branch
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
You would think that in a program which has accumulated 19
conference titles, 14 NCAA titles and a .864 winning percentage,
simply upholding tradition would be enough incentive to earn a trip
to next weekend’s NCAA volleyball Final Four in Springfield,
Mass.
While the top-ranked UCLA men’s volleyball team may not need any
more motivation than this, it has it anyway. Already waiting in
Springfield for UCLA to join them are Ball State and Penn State,
the only two teams to defeat the Bruins in their last 56
matches.
UCLA’s march for a 15th NCAA title and some measure of revenge
continues tonight at 7 p.m. in Pauley Pavilion against No. 5
Brigham Young (14-7 overall, 12-7 in Mountain Pacific Sports
Federation) in the semifinals of the MPSF playoffs.
Should the Bruins (27-1, 20-0) win, they would play the winner
of tonight’s 5 p.m. match between No. 3 Hawaii (18-5, 15-4) and No.
4 UC Santa Barbara (17-8, 14-5). The winner of Saturday night’s
MPSF final earns an automatic trip to Springfield.
While the MPSFs are more immediate, thoughts of rematches with
Penn State and Ball State are not deep in the recesses of many
Bruin memories. Penn State handed UCLA a startling five-game loss
in last year’s NCAA finals, a victory which is widely regarded as
the biggest upset in college volleyball history.
For their part, Ball State broke up the Bruin’s dream of an
undefeated ’95 season with a midseason sweep of UCLA at the
Springfield tournament.
"Knowing those two are already in will just give us a little
more fire when we step out on the court," UCLA setter Stein Metzger
said. "We want some revenge."
Even if the Bruins should stumble in the playoffs, they would
figure to receive the at large invitation which fills the last spot
in the Final Four. However, any thoughts of coming out flat this
weekend should be erased by visions of Nittany Lions and
Cardinals.
"There is no doubt we will come out ready to play," swing hitter
Jeff Nygaard said. "If we could play Ball State in the first round
and Penn State in the finals  that would be the sweetest
revenge we could have."
Of course merely being ready tonight does not guarantee a
victory. BYU is one of just three teams to take more than one game
off UCLA this season, extending the Bruins in their 15-6, 15-5,
10-15, 15-17, 15-6 victory Feb. 25 in Provo. UCLA swept the Cougars
in their only other meeting of the season.
"They’re scary because they’re so inconsistent," UCLA coach Al
Scates said. "They can play two games and look like they’re not
even alive and then come back and hammer you three straight. They
almost beat us that way."
BYU advanced to the MPSF semifinals with a five-game victory
over No. 7 Stanford last weekend in Palo Alto. Senior middle
blocker Kevin Hambly, who led the MPSF in blocking (2.0 per game),
paced BYU with 29 kills and nine blocks.
"We feel we’re playing well coming in," BYU coach Carl McGown
said. "We know we have to play our best match of the season to have
a shot against UCLA."
The Bruins are undefeated against the other two semifinal teams,
going 3-0 head to head with UCSB and 2-0 with Hawaii. However, in
their last meeting with UCSB on April 12 in Pauley Pavilion the
Bruins swept them in just over an hour. The last time they saw
Hawaii they endured a two and a half hour, five-game victory.
"We would much rather face Santa Barbara in the final," Scates
said.