Rainbows outshine Bruins in tourneyBy Ruben Gutierrez
Daily Bruin Staff
Only four matches into the season, the UCLA men’s volleyball
team already faced the proverbial acid test last weekend, playing
matches on three consecutive nights and coming away with two easy
wins before losing a five-game heartbreaker to host Hawaii at the
Outrigger Hotels Invitational.
"(The Hawaii match) was the loudest event I have ever
participated in," UCLA head coach Al Scates said. "I could stand
right next to the players, a few feet from them on the sidelines,
and they couldn’t hear what I was saying. It was louder than any
basketball game I’ve ever been to, louder than anything in Pauley.
They were telling people to stay home on television."
UCLA went up early on the ‘Bows in the first game and both teams
went through a combined 16 game-point rotations before Hawaii took
a 16-14 victory.
UCLA showed its mettle in the second game, rallying from a 10-2
deficit on the strength of seven straight points with freshman
swing hitter Fred Robins providing service. Quick hitter Jason
Harper came up with an ace serve to take the second game 15-12.
Each team took one of the next two games with identical 15-8
scores.
UCLA (3-1) and Hawaii (3-0) entered the final game – with rally
point scoring – gridlocked at two games apiece. The frenzied match
ended just as it had begun, with the Rainbows narrowly snatching
victory, 16-14. Despite the loss, the match provided important
legwork for a return trip to Hawaii in early March.
"We know we can beat these people," Scates said. "We’re going to
come back here in about a month and play them in league, and that’s
when it’s going to count. We know their tendencies, but they’re
going to be awfully hard to stop, regardless."
UCLA reached the showdown with the Rainbows with an unblemished
3-0 record on the season and a perfect run in the tournament, also.
In a rematch of last year’s NCAA finals, the Bruins defeated Penn
State, 15-5, 10-15, 15-4, 15-12 on Thursday. Swing hitter Brian
Wells and opposite hitter Matt Noonan paced UCLA with 20 kills
each. Tom Stillwell hit .414 on the match and added 15 kills.
Harper recorded five blocks in only two games.
Friday night, UCLA continued its tear with a quick three-game
thrashing of Ball State, 15-4, 15-5, 15-5. Robins made the most of
his first career start, recording 11 kills for the Bruins. Freshman
quick hitter Dan Farmer recorded six kills in 10 attempts for a
.600 attack percentage.
Team blocking was also a key to the victory, and setter Stein
Metzger recorded four blocks to go along with flawless setting.
Sophomore quick hitter Stillwell was the leading Bruin blocker,
putting the roof up seven times on the Cardinals.
"We just dominated them, it was pretty easy," UCLA head coach Al
Scates said. "I didn’t need to make any substitutions; we just went
straight with that (starting) group. That was the combination that
I started in the finals."