LONG BEACH “”mdash; One might wonder if Long Beach State has
UCLA’s number after defeating the Bruins two consecutive
times while UCLA was ranked the top volleyball team in the country.
Coach Al Scates certainly doesn’t think so. “Hell no,
they don’t have our number,” Scates said. “They
dominated us last time, but we played them very tough today.”
This echoed the feelings of most of the Bruins as No. 3 Long Beach
State swept No. 1 UCLA on Friday 30-25, 30-28, 30-27 before 1,434
spectators at the Pyramid in Long Beach. “The match was
pathetic,” outside hitter Jonathan Acosta said. “We
can’t let teams keep rolling over us like that. We
can’t afford to play catch up.” And catch up the Bruins
(17-4, 11-4 MPSF) were forced to do after falling behind 5-1 to the
49ers (17-4, 12-3) in the first game before ultimately losing,
30-25. “We definitely came out tentative to start the
match,” quick hitter Paul Johnson said. “We need to
play strong from the beginning.” The Bruins continued the
trend in the second game, falling behind 14-8 before going on a 6-0
run to tie the game at 14. The game went back and forth from that
point on, with the largest lead for either team reaching a maximum
of three. Long Beach was leading 29-28 and serving for the game
when UCLA outside hitter Kris Kraushaar blocked 49ers hitter Scott
Touzinsky and hit the ball out of bounds, giving the game to Long
Beach State. However, the UCLA coaches claimed Touzinsky made
contact with the net, which would have given UCLA the point and the
chance to serve for the game. “The decision was
pathetic,” Scates said. “The net was clearly bouncing
up and down. It was a very easy call.” The referees stuck
with their decision, and Long Beach was given the game. The
courtside referee claimed his view was obstructed and that he did
not have a clear glimpse of the play. With the new momentum, Long
Beach State raced out to a 8-4 lead in the third game and never
looked back, winning 30-27 to win the match in three games.
Touzinsky was instrumental for the 49ers, as he finished with eight
kills in the third game and ended with a match-high 19 kills.
Meanwhile, the Bruins were led by Acosta and Johnson, who had 10
and nine kills, respectively. “I felt pretty comfortable in
the match today,” Acosta said. “But our team as a whole
still has a lot to work on when it comes to execution.” UCLA
was continually forced into haphazard, scrambled plays as the
Bruins’ passes were off the mark and players other than the
setter were required to set the ball. “We had our players in
all the right places,” Scates said. “We just did not
execute when the opportunities were given to us. “We really
need to improve when Dennis (Gonzalez) is not able to set the
ball,” Scates continued. “We only successfully
completed two of 15 sets that were not given to him.” The
Bruins’ primary problem was blocking, as the 49ers
continually were able to attack the net without having any blockers
to oppose them. Long Beach tallied 19 blocks, while UCLA finished
with only three. The 49ers were led by David Lee, who had nine
blocks of his own. “Our blocking was just not there,”
Scates said. “Chris (Peña) was continually sticking in
the middle, not getting to the outside.” Scates tried to
combat this inadequacy by substituting Allan Vince for Peña in
the third game, but it was too late for the Bruins.
GONZALEZ RETURNS: The match marked the return
of setter Gonzalez, who returned from a four-match layoff to finish
with 34 assists. “I thought Dennis looked off,” Scates
said. “He still played a little tentative coming off the knee
injury.”