Remember Fort Wayne
After losing to Penn State in last year’s NCAA Championship, the
UCLA men’s volleyball team is motivated and ready for 1995
By Lawrence Ma
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
The date: May 8, 1994.
The place: the Allen County Memorial Stadium, in Fort Wayne,
Ind.
And the event: the NCAA Men’s Volleyball Championship match.
The UCLA Bruins, the top-ranked team in the nation and the
prohibitive favorite to win their 15th national title, led No. 4
Penn State, 11-4 in the fourth game with a 2-1 lead in the
match.
All UCLA needed was four points, but the Nittany Lions mounted a
seemingly miraculous comeback, taking game four and eventually
upsetting the Bruins in the rally-scoring fifth.
It was considered a bright moment for volleyball, as Penn State
became the first non-Californian team to win the men’s volleyball
national championship.
But it was a dark moment for the UCLA Bruins, who had roared
into the match on a 29-1 record as the defending national
champions. Team captain Erik Sullivan tossed his replica of the
second-place trophy to the floor during the award ceremonies.
Outside hitter Kevin Wong skipped the press conference and jogged
back to the team hotel. Quite simply, the Bruins were not a happy
bunch.
"Well, there’s not much I can say about that," setter Stein
Metzger said, looking back at that night some eight months ago. "We
basically choked.
"Now, we’re on fire. We’re out to get that championship. It’s
going to mean that much more."
And with this weekend’s UC Santa Barbara Invitational, the UCLA
men’s volleyball team will begin yet another quest for the national
title, which is the only goal that UCLA has, each and every
year.
And more often than not, the Bruins are expected to win the
title, which was the case last year.
"Last year, it was like, ‘We have to win,’ " Metzger said. "If
we had won, it would have been expected. And if we lost, it was the
biggest upset ever. And we lost."
The Penn State loss, says Metzger, showed that anything was
possible, even the fall of the mighty Bruins. Thus, the Bruins have
now only one thing to focus on, and it’s as simple as winning the
national championship.
"I don’t think it’s revenge or anger," Metzger said of the mind
set of the ’95 Bruins. "It’s the goal that we really want to
achieve that we failed to last year. It’s more for ourselves."
This year, UCLA is once more expected to win it all. With five
starters returning, who wouldn’t expect the Bruins to do it? And
the frightening thing to the opponents in the Mountain Pacific
Sports Federation and the rest of the country is that the Bruins
think they’re better and more focused.
"I think we’re better because people have been working so hard
during the summer and playing a lot," Metzger said. "I think
everybody has gotten a lot of experience. I mean the losing
experience is probably a huge factor that’s going to make us
better, because we’re more focused."
UCLA coach Al Scates has also noticed a difference in this bunch
of Bruins.
"The players showed up in real good shape in the fall," Scates
said. "Then when they showed up for the winter, I put them through
some tough practices. And they seemed to take it well and in fact
they wanted more. So I stepped it up and they took it well. So, I
can train them, right now, like we’re in midseason."
The Bruins will be led once again by 1994 Collegiate Player of
the Year Jeff Nygaard. Last season, Nygaard finished second in the
nation in blocks (1.9 per game), third in kills (7.0), seventh in
service aces (.541) and 17th in hitting percentage (.561). He also
set UCLA records in kills (650) and attempts (1,149) and tied the
UCLA single match record for kills with 37.
Nygaard accomplished all of the above playing opposite the
setter, a position he had to learn to play as the season
progressed. This year, the 6-foot, 8-inch senior will be back in
the middle, where he started in his first two seasons in Westwood
and starred for the US National Team for the past two years.
With the graduation of Tim Kelly, John Speraw, a 6-5 senior, has
stepped into the other starting middle blocking spot, but on the
bench are a pair of 6-8 freshmen in Tom Stillwell and James Turner.
Stillwell redshirted last season, while Turner was a high school
All-American and a prized recruit. The two freshmen’s size could
give UCLA more blocking, but Bruin assistant coach Brian Rofer
notes the importance of experience.
"You may get a little more blocking with the 6-8 guys, but the
6-5 guy has four years of experience," Rofer said. "(Speraw) won’t
make the mistakes you see from freshmen once in a while."
Nygaard’s vacated opposite slot is also up for grabs between
sophomores Matt Noonan and Paul Nihipali. Noonan played in just
four matches last season, while Nihipali started as a true freshman
as a middle blocker last season. After sitting out most of the fall
with a broken jaw, Nihipali now trails Noonan, who Scates said was
ready to start at opposite last season.
"Nihipali is behind Noonan at this stage and he’s got a long
ways to go," Scates said. "But he has such potential that we don’t
know what’s going to happen at that position yet. Noonan is ahead
of Nihipali now because he’s hitting better than he’s ever hit.
He’s ready to go."
In the two outside hitting spots, UCLA has two of the premier
passers in the nation in All-American seniors Wong and Sullivan.
The pair graded out perfect on 75 percent of their passes last
season and combined for 553 kills, which was over a quarter of
UCLA’s total putaways.
At setter, Metzger, a sophomore, returns after running the UCLA
offense last year and playing on the US National "B" Team with Wong
and Sullivan last summer.
"Metzger’s better than he was last year, at this time," Scates
said. "He’s setting faster, he’s taking the ball higher, and he’s
mastered his play calling. He’s going to be a much better setter
this year."
All of UCLA’ s pieces add up to yet another powerhouse unit that
will once again be expected to win it all. Nygaard, for one, said
at the conclusion of last season that he expects the Bruins to go
undefeated.
"We hope, we hope," Metzger said. "But the main priority is to
win those last few matches and win in the end. I’m not as concerned
about going undefeated, although it would be nice."