Bruins trample Loyola Marymount
By Daily Bruin Staff
April 2, 1997 9:00 p.m.
Tuesday, March 4, 1997
M. VOLLEYBALL:
Slow, unemotional game all in night’s work for UCLABy Jennifer
Kollenborn
Daily Bruin Contributor
"Pretty" was the word of the night.
UCLA (17-3 overall, 13-2 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation)
crushed unranked Loyola Marymount (5-13, 4-12) in three games 15-7,
15-11, 15-11.
The crowd yelled at Loyola Marymount’s setter, Reid Priddy, all
night to "get it over," telling him he was "so pretty."
However, the sarcastic cheer  aimed at Priddy to upset
LMU’s confidence  appeared as the only sign of enthusiasm in
Pauley Pavilion.
The lack of emotion in the game was felt by the players and
coaches.
"Tonight was a very unemotional night," head coach Al Scates
said. "(The match) was methodical, but we loosened up at the
end."
UCLA started off the first game strong with an ace by freshman
quick hitter Adam Naeve. The American Volleyball Coaches
Association named Naeve as its National Player of the Week, and
Naeve proved his talent last night. Naeve hit a team high of 22
kills and an outstanding hitting average of .741.
"Adam Naeve is on a real streak; he had two blocks which set the
game down," Scates said. "Our middle’s are playing well."
The Bruins kept Naeve’s jump-start lead through the entire game.
But, at 4-0, LMU’s Reid Priddy came in strong with a block against
UCLA giving the Lions their first point of the night. LMU managed
to get a few more points through UCLA’s errors. But when UCLA
finally picked up the pace, the Bruins were unstoppable. At 12-7,
Adam Naeve blocked two in a row for UCLA to put the Bruins at game
point. However, it took ten game points before UCLA won at
15-7.
The Bruins gave up a few points in the second game as well. UCLA
was called for a net violation during the first point of the match.
LMU took the next two points when Nihipali spiked wide, and LMU’s
Zane Smythe came in with the kill. However, the Bruins fought back
with quick hitter Tom Stillwell. Stillwell, who led UCLA’s attack,
hitting an amazing .762 with 16 kills and a team high of six
blocks, tied the game at three with a winning spike. The rest of
the game progressed slowly until Fred Robins’ three winning serves
at 11-8, which put the game at 14-8. Then, Nihipali came in at the
end with the winning kill of the match after a long rally.
In the final game, the Bruins took a 7-1 lead as LMU’s Tim
Farmer spiked long. At this point, LMU’s head coach called a
timeout to slow UCLA’s momentum, but the Bruins pushed their lead
to 13-7 when the duo of Danny Farmer and Brandon Taliaferros made a
diving save to give UCLA the point.
At the end, it was Naeve again whose two serial blocks won the
match.
Even though UCLA showed little excitement when they defeated
LMU, the Bruins still proved that their impeccable talent won the
game.
However, the true test for the No. 1 Bruins will come Friday
when they host Pepperdine in Pauley Pavilion at 7 p.m.
GENEVIEVE LIANG/Daily Bruin
Freshman quick hitter Adam Naeve, named the Natonal Player of
the Week, had a .741 hitting percentage  22 kills against
LMU.
