By Amanda Fletcher Daily Bruin Contributor The No. 4 UCLA men’s
volleyball team defeated a deceivingly solid No. 8 Loyola Marymount
squad in the MPSF semifinals last night at the Firestone
Fieldhouse, 15-8, 15-11, 13-15, 15-12.
The Lions came in as the underdogs, despite the fact that they
beat UCLA earlier in the season. The win during the regular season
broke a 59-game winning streak the Bruins had held against LMU.
But this time around the stakes were a little higher and the
Bruins weren’t about to let their championship hopes be dashed by a
team that had only beaten them once in the past 30 years.
It took the Bruins less than 30 minutes to give the Lions their
first loss of the night.
"The first couple of games we came out strong and intense,"
freshman quick hitter Scott Morrow said.
The rest of the match would take more than two hours as both
teams picked up their level of play with neither wanting to be the
one to go home with regrets.
Game two once again found the Bruins in the lead, knocking away
nine points before the Lions could even get on the board. A letdown
by the Bruins midway through the game allowed LMU to rally back
within two points before UCLA was able to finish them off.
"There were some points when we got stuck and we just lost our
momentum," Morrow said.
Game three would be a different story, though. Once again, UCLA
got off to an early lead. But once again, they let down and allowed
LMU to catch up. Only this time the Lions didn’t just catch up
 they won 15-13.
"We made a few errors in the end and they had all the momentum,"
senior libero Matt Davis said.
The Bruins accumulated nine hitting errors in the third game
alone, nearly one third of their total errors for the night.
"We dropped our intensity level in the third," junior outside
hitter Mark Williams said. "When we drop, it gives them the
intensity and (this time) they were able to run with it."
Behind the play of outside hitter Reid Priddy, the Lions used
this intensity and momentum to overtake the lagging Bruins and
force the match into a critical fourth game.
"Priddy got on fire and started banging some balls and really
got them going," Williams said. "When he’s on and the team’s
playing well they’re unstoppable."
With only one game left remaining between them and the final
round of the MPSF playoffs, the Bruins realized the need to get
focused and reclaim control of the match. But LMU was the one that
got out with the early lead in game four, leading the Bruins
7-3.
The turning point came just one play late as senior setter
Brandon Taliaferro went low to the floor to dig a ball. Senior
quick hitter Seth Burnham turned around just in time to kick it up
with his foot and Davis finished the play, hitting the ball over
the net for his first kill of the season.
"It wasn’t anything special," Davis said. "I just hit it over
and they didn’t dig it."
But the effect it had on the game was decisive.
"We scored nine straight points after that play," UCLA head
coach Al Scates said.
Freshman Cameron Mount and senior Ed Ratledge both entered the
match in the fourth game and their contributions gave UCLA the
edge.
"Putting fresh players in at the end helped a lot," Scates said.
"The constant pressure of a steady rotation of jump servers got
Loyola out of their rhythm."
The Bruins drove home five aces in game four alone.
As a team that has been plagued by slow starts and an inability
to play an entire game with a high level of intensity, UCLA managed
to put it all together just in time for the postseason.