No. 1 men’s volleyball beats UH
By Daily Bruin Staff
Jan. 29, 1995 9:00 p.m.
No. 1 men’s volleyball beats UH
to win Hawaii Tournament title
By Eric Branch
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
Coming off several days of luaus and mahi-mahi, the UCLA men’s
volleyball team thanked Hawaii for its hospitality by kicking
around the home team.
After sweeping Penn State on Wednesday the Bruins (3-0 overall)
won the Hawaii Invitational Tournament in Honolulu Thursday night
after hammering Hawaii (1-1) 15-9, 15-11, 16-14 in the championship
match.
Despite hitting a pedestrian .197 on the night, UCLA dominated
the Rainbows with an impressive all-around game.
"If you would have told me we would hit .197 before the match I
would have told you we would have lost in three," UCLA head coach
Al Scates said. "The difference was we outdug and outblocked them
off the court."
Indeed the Bruins’ defense controlled the match, holding
Hawaii’s go-to hitter Yuval Katz to an anemic .022 hitting
percentage while registering 20 team blocks and 40 digs.
Sophomore opposite Matt Noonan jump started UCLA in the first
game by posting 11 kills to go along with eight hitting errors in
23 attempts.
"That’s why he’s the terminator," Scates said. "He either kills
it or it goes out; either way the ball is not coming back."
After cruising in the first two games, the Bruins faced a 13-14
deficit in the final frame. But after reeling off two points,
junior setter Stein Metzger (five blocks) roofed Katz to seal the
match.
Swing hitter Jeff Nygaard paced the Bruins with 15 kills while
quick hitter John Speraw posted 5.5 blocks and swing hitter Erik
Sullivan ran down 13 digs.
