Spirited UCLA men’s volleyball fans chanted “trees
can’t move,” but their fervor was misguided. If
anything, the Stanford men’s volleyball team showed UCLA it
could move, taking the Bruins to five games Saturday night before
the Bruins prevailed in the fifth, 17-15, to win the 27th annual
Kilgour Cup.
UCLA won the match 30-28, 28-30, 22-30, 30-24, 17-15 for its
second five-game heart-stopping victory of the weekend at Pauley
Pavilion.
The No. 1 Bruins beat Pacific on Friday night, 21-30, 22-30,
30-28, 30-24, 16-14. UCLA (16-3, 10-3 MPSF) came back from a 2-1
deficit against Stanford and a 2-0 deficit against Pacific, in a
weekend that proved crucial to the team in terms of forging a
mentality of champions.
“Anytime you’ve come back, you’ve played well
in the clutch,” coach Al Scates said. “To be a
champion, you’ve got to know that you can win any game at any
time.”
UCLA was out-blocked by the Cardinal, 19.5 to 11, and the
Bruins’ poor blocking was particularly evident in the third
game, which Stanford dominated. With the score tied 9-9, Stanford
went on an 11-3 run to take a 20-12 lead, at which point Scates
emptied his bench. With UCLA reserves on the court, the starters
had a chance to rest up for the fourth game.
The Bruins’ blocking improved dramatically in Game four,
as the Bruins achieved separation late in the game, when a short
run put them ahead 24-19.
“We blocked terribly until the end,” junior quick
hitter Paul Johnson said. “We watch tape and practice hard,
but for some reason we weren’t getting it done. We need to
follow the game plan.”
The final game was a seesaw battle after UCLA fought back from a
7-5 deficit to tie the score at 7-7 on back-to-back aces from
junior outside hitter Kris Kraushaar. Stanford’s David Vogel
gave the Cardinal a 15-14 lead on a kill, but a bad set by Kevin
Hansen evened the score again. UCLA then took the lead for good on
a kill by junior outside hitter Jonathan Acosta. Johnson won the
match for UCLA with an ace.
UCLA survived both matches without injured starting setter
Dennis Gonzalez. Sophomore Beau Peters played well in his place,
registering 64 assists against the Cardinal and 52 against Pacific.
UCLA’s victory over Stanford ended a two-match losing streak
to the unranked Cardinal.
“The wins are a sign of maturity,” Peters said.
“When you are No. 1, teams are going to come out and go after
you. Especially in Pauley. It’s probably exciting for teams
to come here and lay it all out. Teams do that and we match
it.”
Against the Cardinal, senior opposite Marcin Jagoda had 17 kills
while senior quick hitter Chris Peña led the Bruins with 19.
Acosta, in his strongest performance of an injury-plagued year, had
a season-high 15 kills.
In the fifth game against Pacific (4-14, 2-11 MPSF), freshman
opposite Steve Klosterman and Peña combined for seven kills
and two aces.