For one game, the UCLA men’s volleyball team shined,
playing better than rival Brigham Young.
But then BYU showed why it’s No. 2 in the country, with
three dominating games to beat UCLA 3-1 (24-30, 30-26, 30-14,
30-24) Thursday night in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation
showdown at Pauley Pavilion.
The two teams play each other again Saturday at 7 p.m. in
Pauley.
“They were a better team than us,” UCLA senior
setter Dennis Gonzalez said. “We came out the first game and
destroyed them, but the second game was the same old story. We
messed up in our game plan. We knew what was coming, and we
didn’t execute.”
The No. 6 Bruins (4-4, 0-2 MPSF) certainly did come out firing,
hitting a stellar .444 in Game 1. Outside hitter Damien Scott had
five kills in six hitting attempts, and the Bruins altogether only
had four hitting errors.
“In the first game we were in our offense because we
passed the ball so well,” UCLA coach Al Scates said.
“That’s our offense ““ we were quick and spreading
people out.”
But then everything changed.
After UCLA took a 10-6 lead in Game 2, BYU kicked up its game
another notch.
The Cougars went on a big run, winning eight of 10 points and
seemingly getting every big block, serve and dig.
BYU’s strong play continued into Game 3, which was the
most lopsided game played this season by either team. The Bruins
kept it close as BYU led 13-7, but then the Cougars rattled off
seven straight points, led by the overpowering serves of middle
blocker Victor Batista, who had two aces in that span and forced
many defensive returns by the Bruins.
“Batista was able to put down the serve wherever he wanted
to,” Scates said. “He’s an excellent
player.”
The Cougars hit an astounding .636 as a team in Game 3.
BYU also got out to an early lead in Game 4, and the Bruins
never mounted a serious challenge.
“I thought in Game 1 we played our game, and in Games 2
and 3 they just played better than us. We had a couple of errors
here and there, and then we just lost it,” said senior quick
hitter Nick Scheftic, who, along with junior Paul George, led the
Bruins with 11 kills.
The star of the match was BYU’s Ivan Perez, who had 21
kills and hit .500 for the match.
“Perez was the one we couldn’t really stop,”
Scates said. “What BYU had was the ability to throw the ball
out to Perez, and he hit away throughout the match.”
Because of their performance in Game 1, the Bruins say they are
confident they can come back strong Saturday, despite the one-sided
scores at the end.
“We need to get better. We need to stop their big hitters,
especially Ivan Perez,” Scheftic said. “We need to
block a couple of balls here and there, and we’ll be right
back in it. Saturday we need to come from the heart and block these
guys and cut down the errors.”
BYU outblocked UCLA by the wide margin of 23-4 in the match.
“They’re a very experienced club,” Scates
said. “They have six starters back, and we only have one.
They just served better than we can pass. That’s the bottom
line.”
Later in the match, Scates was able to use many players he
seldom uses, including freshmen setter Matt Wade and redshirt
freshman outside hitter Blake Taylor.