In a matter of 40 minutes, unrestrained joy turned into
uncontrollable sorrow.
The UCLA men’s volleyball team saw its lead, its national
title hopes, and most frustratingly, its home-court advantage,
dismantled by No. 1 Pepperdine on Saturday night at Pauley Pavilion
in the NCAA Championship match.
The third-seeded Bruins, ahead 2-1 heading into the fourth game
and seemingly on the verge of their 19th national title, saw their
season and a chance to claim the championship trophy snatched by
Pepperdine, losing in five games 30-23, 23-30, 24-30, 30-24,
15-10.
It marked the first time in 26 matches that the Bruins (26-6)
and their legendary coach Al Scates had not come out the victors
when hosting the Final Four. The loss also signaled the second
consecutive senior class in the history of the men’s
volleyball program that will graduate from UCLA without having won
a national championship.
“The Waves are a great team, I have to give them
credit,” setter Gaby Acevedo said. “But to lose on our
home court is tough. I really wanted to win it for the
seniors.”
It had been a goal of the UCLA’s seniors all year long to
reach this point, but the view at the end wasn’t the one the
Bruins had been building up in their minds.
Right after Waves’ outside hitter Sean Rooney blasted the
last of his 26 kills on match point to ensure his team the title,
UCLA senior Jonathan Acosta buried his face in his jersey, while
freshman Tony Ker laid on the court motionless in shock.
Minutes later, as UCLA sat collectively on its bench, with many
members of the team in tears, the Bruins were forced to watch
Pepperdine (25-2) celebrate on its home court in front of the
largest crowd, 6,853, to see a championship since 1999.
“I’m at a loss for words,” said Acosta, who
led all players with a game-high 29 kills. “People were
coming up to me saying I had a good match, but we didn’t
accomplish our goal and that’s all that matters.”
The Bruins’ loss Saturday was their first to the Waves in
a championship match since 1978, and was only UCLA’s sixth
setback in 24 championship appearances.
The small line between victory and defeat essentially came down
to the deciding fifth game. The Waves, who utilized their height
advantage over the Bruins at the net, outblocking UCLA 19-8 in the
match, had five blocks in the first 10 points of the final game. As
a result, Pepperdine raced out to an 8-1 lead in Game 5, a deficit
that proved to be insurmountable.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” sophomore
opposite Steve Klosterman said. “They had like five or six
blocks in a row at one point, and we had nowhere to go.”
With UCLA middle blocker Paul Johnson out of the rotation, the
Waves were able to exploit their dominance at the net and limit the
Bruins’ two hottest hitters, Acosta and senior Kris
Kraushaar.
Acosta had carried the Bruins with a career-high 29 kills and a
.523 hitting percentage while Kraushaar recorded 16 kills of his
own.
But in Game 5, the pair combined for only four kills and were
repeatedly stuffed at the net, while Pepperdine’s leader,
Rooney, rose above the fray to lead his team to the title.
“There were certainly a few plays that I would like to
have back,” Acevedo said.
Acosta and Kraushaar had helped the Bruins recover from a slow
start to win Games 2 and 3, and nearly had a chance to win the
match in Game 4. Kraushaar had the majority of his kills in the
fourth game, pulling the Bruins to within two points of the Waves
at 23-21.
From that point on, however, the Waves’ hitters started to
warm up. Rooney, the Tournament MVP, and fellow outside hitter John
Parfitt, whom the Bruins had effectively limited in the previous
two games, combined for 10 kills in Game 4.
“We had our chances,” Acosta said. “Rooney
started to slow down in the second and third game, but we let him
get his rhythm back, and our team suffered.”
Though the Bruins were not celebrating the end of their
five-year championship drought, Scates was proud of his
team’s effort nonetheless.
“I was really proud of my guys tonight,” Scates
said. “Kris hasn’t been able to practice on a daily
basis all season, and he played amazing tonight. Acosta’s
effort was the best I’ve ever seen from him.”
Just over three weeks ago, both were suffering from injuries and
neither could practice full time. Kraushaar’s match Saturday,
in fact, was the first time he played over three games in six
weeks.
Both are seniors, leaving a big hole for the Bruins to fill next
year. But not as big as the hole left in the championship trophy
case, which now hasn’t seen any permanent additions since
2000.