Monday, January 27, 1997
M.VOLLEYBALL:
Bruins redeem tourney record with win over HawaiiBy Vytas
Mazeika
Daily Bruin Contributor
The UCLA men’s volleyball team finds itself with a 1-1 record
after this weekend’s tournament in Hawaii.
"The coach is 0-1 and the team is 1-0," UCLA head coach Al
Scates said.
The No. 2 Bruins lost in four games to the fourth-ranked Nittany
Lions on Thursday. Penn State defeated UCLA 15-11, 15-11, 14-16,
15-5.
Scates takes full responsibility for the loss suffered against
Penn State. He blames the poor team effort to an error he made in
scheduling the trip. UCLA took a late flight that consequently
forced the team to stay up until 5:30 a.m.
"I don’t care who we would have played," Scates said. "We would
have lost (Thursday night)."
Penn State out-hit UCLA .358 to .258 and Scates believes that
the Nittany Lions, with five returning seniors, are better than
they were at this same point last year.
But UCLA did recover from the loss to win the remainder of its
matches.
On Friday, UCLA played an exhibition match against Laval
University, Canada’s 1997 collegiate national champions, and won in
five games 15-6, 14-16, 15-7, 13-15, 15-10. The Bruins also
defeated third-ranked Hawaii on Saturday, 15-11, 13-15, 16-14,
15-5.
Against Hawaii, Scates showed why he is the winningest
volleyball coach in history. He benched tournament most valuable
player Paul Nihipali for the entire match against Laval on Friday
so that he could be rested on Saturday against Hawaii.
A fresh Nihipali had 33 kills and hit .410 against Hawaii on his
way to being named the tournament’s MVP while the Hawaii team
showed some wear and tear.
"Paul (Nihipali) was rested and I think that was the
difference," Scates said. "Some of the Hawaii players just had no
legs left."
The sold-out crowd of 10,225 could not energize its home team
enough for the Rainbows to survive a grueling match that lasted two
hours and 39 minutes. The first game alone lasted 48 minutes, and
Scates characterized the match as one with constant side outs and
with both teams having trouble scoring.
Although UCLA jumped out to a decisive 9-2 lead in the first
game, Hawaii quickly tied it at 10 before the Bruins prevailed
15-11.
Then after UCLA lost the second game 15-13, the third game
became a see-saw battle with the Bruins coming out on top. UCLA
held a one-point lead for almost the entire game before finally
winning 16-14.
Trong Nguyen, UCLA’s only other senior aside from Nihipali, got
extensive playing time, starting Games 2, 3 and 4 in place of swing
hitter Andor Gyulai. Nguyen, who stands only 5 feet 10 inches tall,
racked up six kills, nine digs and three blocks and was a spark
plug for the Bruins.
By the time the fourth game came around, the Bruins dominated
the spent Rainbows with their height advantage.
"It was a battle of attrition and the big guys came out on top,"
Scates said.