Gauchos move in for kill against UCLA m. volleyball Despite control of ball, lack of scoring buries

Gauchos move in for kill against UCLA m. volleyball Despite
control of ball, lack of scoring buries Bruins

Surprise performance by Darner, Bruin injury help UCSB to
victory

By Ruben Gutierrez

Daily Bruin Staff

One player rose to the occasion Saturday night to lift No.4 UC
Santa Barbara over No.2 UCLA, 10-15, 15-8, 15-13, 15-13 in a
Mountain Sports Pacific Federation contest. But it wasn’t who
everybody expected.

Luckily for UCLA (4-2 overall, 1-1 MPSF), Gaucho outside hitter
Donny Harris was a non-factor in the match after being named the
American Volleyball Coaches Association Player of the Week.
Unluckily for the Bruins, fellow outside hitter Jeremy Darner put
away a match-high 27 kills, with his best play coming in the
pivotal third game with the match still tied at one game
apiece.

"Harris was their main man," UCLA head coach Al Scates said. "If
you had told me before the match that he would be hitting .190, I’d
have said we would beat them, but this kid Darner comes in and he
basically wins game three.

"We haven’t seen a lot of him and he’s hitting different shots
than we’re used to. By the time we figure out how to stop him, it’s
15-13 them in game three."

Although Darner put in the superlative performance of the night,
UCSB (3-1 overall, 3-0 MPSF) was far from one-dimensional.
According to Scates, the Gauchos may have the best personnel in the
country and Saturday night they showed they have a powerful scorer
at the net in the form of quick hitter Amaury Velasco. Velasco
added 19 kills for the Gauchos on a .500 attack percentage.

"He really hurt us," Scates said. "He doesn’t get set as much as
the opposites, but he’s a quick hitter, so every time there is a
good pass, he’s getting a one on one situation."

UCLA went with a smaller lineup than usual in the first game. At
37 rotations, the game was the longest of the season for the Bruins
and UCLA came out on top largely by outlasting the Gauchos.

"It was a small team in comparison to our regular guys, so we
had great ball control and siding out," Scates said. "We outlasted
them. It was a great sideout effort and we won largely through ball
control."

Lack of scoring would haunt UCLA throughout the rest of the
match, especially in the second game. In game four, UCLA rallied
from a 14-10 deficit to bring the game within one point, but the
Gauchos closed the game out at 15-13, an identical game three
score.

"In the second game, we just couldn’t score on them," Scates
said. "They got into a groove and we went 24 rotations and only had
four points on them. At that point I had to put in some of the
bigger blockers and lose some ball control and sideout
capabilities."

UCLA’s best all-around performance of the evening came from
swing hitter Matt Taylor. Taylor put away 13 kills for the Bruins
on .379 attacking and added 14 digs. While sophomore quick hitter
Tom Stillwell continued to mark his territory at the net with 13
block assists, UCLA still sorely missed freshman quick hitter James
Turner, out with an ankle injury.

"Last time we had Turner and we blew them out because he
dominated the net," Scates said. "We can’t duplicate him. We can go
with Danny Farmer, who is a very explosive hitter or we can go with
Jason Harper who gives us better blocking, but not the quickness of
attack. With James, we have both."

FRED HE/Daily Bruin

The fourth-ranked Gauchos took down Paul Nihipali and the No. 2
Bruins Saturday night.

"… this kid Darner comes in and he basically wins game
three."

Al Scates

UCLA Head Coach

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