Wednesday, January 22, 1997
M. VOLLEYBALL:
Alumni prove no match for squad, but next week’s road trip a
different storyBy Vytas Mazeika
Daily Bruin Contributor
The annual alumni match took place Saturday night at the Wooden
Center with past UCLA stars Sinjin Smith and Carl Henkel. However,
the students dominated most of the match and prevailed in four
games, 15-5, 13-15, 15-4, 15-10, over the alumni.
The Bruins out-hit the alumni .304 to .159, but UCLA head coach
Al Scates thinks that the Bruins must improve on their hitting
before going to the Hawaii tournament.
"We still have a ways to go with our hitting," Scates said.
The one aspect of the game which pleased Scates was the
blocking. Scates is an advocate of winning the battle at the net,
and in the end UCLA outblocked the alumni 32-18.
This domination contributed to the mediocre hitting of the
alumni in Games 1 and 3, in which they hit .059 and .081 . The two
players who were responsible for wreaking havoc at the net were Tom
Stillwell (last year’s NCAA blocks per game leader) and true
freshman Brandon Taliaferro.
"This was (Taliaferro’s) best blocking night," Scates said.
With matches against Penn State and Hawaii less than a week
away, from now on the fun matches will be few and far between for
UCLA.
The game was never serious and was more like a class reunion
than a volleyball match.
"Every year it is like a reunion with all your old best
friends," Henkel explained. "This is the greatest volleyball
program in America. I love the people. I love the volleyball
community here at UCLA. It is an incredible experience. That is why
I play (in the alumni match)."
With the UCLA team slowly improving, tension was not in the
vocabulary of any of the players, who were enjoying the match along
with the 517 people in attendance.
"It is good to have a good time out there," Scates said. "Sports
should be fun. You should have a good time."
The one individual who best embodied this looseness was Stein
Metzger, UCLA’s former All-American setter, who flew in all the way
from Turkey for this match. However, when asked if it felt awkward
playing on the other side of the net as an alumni rather than a
student, he responded with one word: "Definitely."
Metzger’s upbeat style of play made the alumni’s effort
inspirational and excited the crowd. He was even in mid-season
form, as he attempted time and time again to dissuade the referee’s
calls.
"Well, I always go after Marvin (the first referee)," Metzger
said. "It’s always my nature to go after the refs."
Some things never change.
* * *
Injury update: Rich Bland, who tripped over the press table in a
valiant effort for the alumni, thought he dislocated his knee.
After the match was over, Bland iced his knee and Scates said he
thought everything would be fine.