Thursday, January 23, 1997
VOLLEYBALL:
Season begins tonight with three returning startersBy Vytas
Mazeika
Daily Bruin Contributor
The UCLA men’s volleyball team begins its season tonight against
Penn State in the Hawaii Tournament. The 1997 season is full of
both doubts and high expectations.
Every year UCLA head coach Al Scates is only pleased if his team
wins the NCAA championship. With 16 NCAA titles already under his
belt, Scates does not doubt that this year he could get his
17th.
The Bruins return three starters from the 1996 NCAA Championship
team: player of the year candidate Paul Nihipali, middle blocker
Tom Stillwell and swing hitter Fred Robins.
But Nihipali and Robins have struggled for most of the
pre-season.
"Fred Robins (went) home to Hawaii and surfed for three weeks
during the break," Scates said. "I don’t think he played a bit of
volleyball. He couldn’t hit a lick."
But Scates is not worried, because he concentrates on having his
team ready come playoff time. Some of the doubts about the Bruins
should be eased when the two big hitters come around and the
playoffs near.
More doubts surrounding the team concern the two highly touted
freshman starters.
With the graduation of All-American setter Stein Metzger, true
freshman Brandon Taliaferro will step in and attempt to lead one of
the most talented teams in the country. Adam Naeve (pronounced
Navy), another true freshman, will share middle blocking duties
with Stillwell  last year’s national block leader (2.09
blocks per game).
"Brandon (Taliaferro) will be as good as any setter we’ve ever
had," assistant coach Brian Rofer said. "As good as he gets we’ll
see. But he is improving already.
"Adam (Naeve) I think in 10 years will be the top player in the
United States, if not one of the top players in the world. He’ll
definitely be in that upper echelon of players that came out of
UCLA. He’ll make his name here."
The final starting spot on the team belongs to swing hitter
Andor Gyulai  at the moment. He earned the spot with his
pre-season efforts both at practice and at the Santa Barbara
tournament two weeks ago.
But Gyulai narrowly beat Matt Davis and Ben Moselle for that
starting spot and knows that he must remain on his toes for the
rest of the year because the competition will be fierce. It is this
competition that elevates everyone’s level of play.
"The reason this team is so good is that these guys can’t rest,"
Rofer said. "They have to play well every single game, including
practice. I think that if you ask most of these guys that are
competing for a spot, they love it. That’s just what these guys
thrive on."
As the two-time defending national champions, UCLA will be
trying to three-peat for the fourth time in Scates’ coaching
career. But Scates does not see this challenge as a deterrent.
"It is easier (to repeat as national champions)," Scates said.
"You get guys who have been there and know what it takes. What is
hard to do is win an NCAA when you have never won one."
"To repeat … my God … we have won four times in a row
before."
That may be looking too far ahead. For now, UCLA will
concentrate on its 1997 campaign.