Order restored: Bruins sweep Penn State

Order restored: Bruins sweep Penn State

Bruins think they know what’s best for volleyball: Bring title
back to California after one year exile

By Lawrence Ma

Daily Bruin Senior Staff

SPRINGFIELD, Mass.–Exactly one year ago, the UCLA men’s
volleyball team went through perhaps the darkest moment in its
history.

The top-ranked Bruins had a 2-1 lead in the match and 11-4 lead
in game four of the NCAA Championship finals against Penn State,
but it all slipped away as the Nittany Lions came up with the
biggest upset in collegiate volleyball history.

For the volleyball world, it was supposed to be a good win, as
Penn State became the first non-Californian team to win a title.
But for the Bruins, who have won 14 titles in 17 appearances at the
Final Four, it was a nightmare.

Three hundred and sixty five days later, the Bruins once again
made it back to the NCAA Championship finals. A year’s worth of
frustration was finally released, as UCLA swept Penn State to win
the school’s 15th title.

For UCLA sophomore Paul Nihipali, Saturday night at the
Springfield Civic Center was an exorcism of sorts.

"Last year haunted me all the way up to about 20 minutes ago,"
Nihipali said after the match. "I’m just glad to be a part of it. I
love the fact that I was able to send four of our seniors out in
style."

The four seniors ­ Kevin Wong, Erik Sullivan, Jeff Nygaard
and John Speraw ­ had been looking forward to this one, even
though all four had maintained throughout the season that they were
not thinking about last year.

"With an upset like what occurred last year, that’s always
somewhere in your mind," Sullivan said. "That’s something you’ll
have to live with the rest of your life.

"It’s funny because when Karch Kiraly retired his number, he
said the one he’ll remember the most is the one that they didn’t
get. As bad as that sounds, it’s kind of true."

Kiraly won three NCAA titles with the Bruins from 1979 to 1982,
but it’s the 1980 loss to USC that he talks about the most.
Sullivan and company have one title (1993) and winning another in
their last match together would help ease the pains of 1994.

In 1995, the Bruins put together a 29-1 regular season to get to
Springfield. Along the way, they dealt with pressure of being the
top-ranked team in the nation and learned a few lessons.

"I think one of the the lessons we learned this season was
patience," Speraw said. "There were times when you saw us
frustrated because things weren’t going our way, because we
expected ourselves to just roll through teams. It’s great to be
confident, but players are good on the other teams and we had to
respect that."

UCLA didn’t look as devastating as it did in the 1994 season,
when the Bruins crushed seemingly all comers along the way. The
1995 Bruins, however, got better as the season progressed and won
the close ones. There were three matches that went five games in
1994, and the Bruins went 1-2. In 1995, there were also three
five-gamers, but UCLA went 3-0 in those matches and beat Penn State
3-0 in a tournament match in Hawaii back in January.

By the time the Bruins arrived in Springfield last Wednesday,
the team was peaking, playing its best volleyball in dismantling
Brigham Young and Hawaii in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation
Tournament.

Still, there were the memories of a year ago, jabbing at the
nerves of the Bruins.

"It’s hard to stay focused this whole time, because you’re
thinking, ‘God what if we lose again?’" Sullivan said. "I didn’t
have a good night of sleep (Friday night)."

When match time rolled around Saturday night, the Bruins found
themselves in another hostile gym, playing in front of a decidedly
Penn State crowd. But UCLA took care of them with a 15-3 thumping
of the Lions in the first game, and after that, it was a matter of
remaining focused.

Penn State led 6-3 and 8-6 in game two, and looked to drag UCLA
into another five-game war. But, in the huddles, calm prevailed for
the Bruins.

"Every single huddle we had, every single player just said,
‘Let’s not get frustrated. Let’s get focused on what we’re doing
and play hard,’" Nygaard said. "Everybody was on the same page.
Every time we’re thinking, every time we said something."

UCLA outscored Penn State 9-2 down the stretch of game two and
got itself a 2-0 lead. In the third game, UCLA had a commanding
13-7 lead, when the Nittany Lions made a furious run that brought
the score to 13-10.

But there were no thoughts of here-we-go-again, or any other
self-defeating thoughts. UCLA got to match point at 14-10, and on
its second match point, Wong converted with his 15th kill of the
match.

"I got more calm actually at about 14 than I was at 10,"
Sullivan said. "I just realized that we can side out with this team
all night, and if that’s what we had to do to score one more point,
then that’s what we were going to do."

In the end, all was well. The Bruins are back up on top as the
NCAA trophy returns to California once again.

"Oh yes, this is a wonderful thing for volleyball," said Scates,
when asked about the impact of UCLA’s win compared to Penn State’s
’94 win. "We got back to the tradition of the game."