Monday, March 3, 1997
VOLLEYBALL:
UCLA clinches fifth victory in Kilgour Cup with amazing crowd
supportBy Jennifer Kollenborn
Daily Bruin Contributor
The notorious Bruin eight-clap resonated throughout Pauley
Pavilion last Friday night as fans celebrated UCLA’s fifth
consecutive victory in the Kilgour Cup.
The No. 5 Bruins defeated seventh-ranked Hawaii 15-12, 15-12,
15-11 in front of a crowd of 1,554.
Interestingly enough, it was the Bruin marching band that
boosted UCLA (9-3 overall, 8-2 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation)
to a three-game sweep of the Rainbows (7-6, 5-5).
"The band starts giving a big cheer, and our team seemed to pick
it up,"UCLA assistant coach Brian Rofer said. "(The band) always
seems to help, and our team always likes playing with a big
crowd."
The crowd’s spirit helped UCLA outhit the Rainbows .331 to .214.
and outblock them 15 to 13.
"UCLA was just a little bit better than us tonight, but just a
little bit," Hawaii head coach Mike Wilton said.
"I thought we were in this match all the way even when we got
down bigtime in the first two games 2-8, and then 0-8 in the third.
I think that we are going to get better and better now."
Substitution seemed to break UCLA’s rhythm in the first game as
Hawaii substituted Kahinu Lee in for Curt Vaughan at setter, which
quickly proved to put Hawaii back in the game (after falling behind
8-2).
Hawaii scored the next four points in a row, shaking up Bruin
offense.
Then, the Rainbows made another substitution, putting in Gavin
Cook for Rick Tune at middle blocker, and soon thereafter, tied the
game at 12. However, with the pressure mounting, UCLA came to life,
winning the next three points to finish game one.
The intensity did not die down in game 2. The game was tied
three times, including another 12-12 deadlock late in the game. But
Paul Nihipali came up with the three winning kills for the
Bruins.
UCLA’s Adam Naeve led the Bruins to the lead right off the bat
in game three at 8-0 with two winning serves and a block. Hawaii
responded with a 7-1 run, punctuated by three kills in a row to
bring the score to 9-7, but UCLA eventually pulled away.
Paul Nihipali led the Bruins in kills with 23, hitting .364 for
the night. Tom Stillwell notched 10 kills and 7 blocks while junior
swing hitter Ben Moselle had a double-double with 10 kills and 10
digs.
GENEVIEVE LIANG/Daily Bruin
Adam Naeve and the Bruins defeated Hawaii on Friday.