By Pauline Vu
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
The last time UCLA went to Utah to play Bringham Young
University, in 1999, the situation was similar: No. 1 versus No. 2;
winner takes the top ranking and the conference lead.
But then again, the last time the Bruins went to Utah, they were
missing All-American quick hitter Adam Naeve, who’d landed
awkwardly in the previous game and ended up with a high ankle
sprain.
UCLA got crushed.
“I remember a lot about it,” senior outside hitter
Mark Williams said. “We got bageled one game, and the match
was over and (Cougar) Ryan Millar was break-dancing in front of me.
I felt embarrassed.”
Two three-game sweeps (including a 15-0 spanking) later, BYU was
on the road to its first-ever national championship while UCLA was
on its way to its first-ever four-game losing streak.
“We just couldn’t quite put it together,” UCLA
Head Coach Al Scates said. “This is a different team, though.
This is a better team.”
The situation is still top-ranked versus second-ranked, but
Naeve’s back in the lineup and the whole team’s
healthy.
The Cougars (8-0, 4-0 MPSF) are No. 2 in the AVCA/Coaches’
poll, No. 1 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, and are the
only undefeated team in the nation.
BYU Head Coach Carl McGown would’ve been disappointed if
his team had lost once.
“(We) should be undefeated because we’ve had a
schedule that didn’t have a lot of quality matches in
it,” he said. “Maybe we’ve played two good teams
in all of these matches. We’re very untested as a
team.”
Well, break out the blue books, boys, you’re about to be
tested. The Bruins (10-3, 5-1) come in on a six-match winning
streak, boasting tough wins over Pepperdine and UC Santa
Barbara.
Naeve and Williams have found their strides, with Naeve hitting
a season-high 18 kills Wednesday at UCI and Williams adding 14
kills at a .423 hitting clip.
But the Bruins say playing the Cougars should be equally
challenging.
“It’s like a test. We’re going in without
knowing much about them,” Williams said.
What UCLA knows about BYU is what it sees on paper, which should
be enough to worry them. BYU leads the nation with a team hitting
percentage of .435, .52 above the next closest team. The team has
five players in the top 20 in hitting percentages, as well as
senior setter Hector Lebron, who led the Cougars to their title in
1999 and redshirted last year for the right to take this
year’s team far.
Although the AVCA poll says this game is between the two top
teams, Scates noted that in this week’s Volleyball Magazine
poll, the Cougars are No. 1 and the Bruins’ are No. 4.
“This is a big opportunity for us to change that,”
he said.
For UCLA, tonight’s match is not about revenge. The
embarrassment in Provo was two years ago. They’ve won a
national championship since then.
But the game is about two of the best teams in the nation
““ one which hasn’t lost in six games and one which
hasn’t lost at all ““ battling it out on the floor,
figuring out who deserves to say they’re better.
Winner takes the top ranking and the conference lead.