UCLA’s lost match

Monday, 5/5/97 UCLA’s lost match Pivotal deciding point results
in close win for Cardinal

By Vytas Mazeika Daily Bruin Contributor COLUMBUS, Ohio — The
Bruins were not supposed to lose. The UCLA men’s volleyball team,
like many before it, trusted that its ability would be enough to
win the NCAA championship. But trust was not enough. In a tight
Game 5, with the score tied 13-13, Bruin senior Paul Nihipali
missed his serve in the rally-point game to set up the match point
for Stanford. On the next play, Nihipali was roofed down by Matt
Fuerbringer to end the match. Fuerbringer erupted in jubilation as
Stanford fans stormed the floor. And so top-seeded Stanford won its
first NCAA men’s volleyball championship Saturday in dramatic
fashion, squeaking out a five-game match 15-7, 15-10, 9-15, 6-15,
15-13. "I feel sorry that I was not able to pull it out in the
end," Nihipali said. "I am proud of these guys and I think they
will be successful next year." The Cardinal (27-3) came out fired
up and dominated the first two games. Freshman swing hitter Andy
Witt (19 total kills) came out on fire, recording 10 kills to pace
the Cardinals early in the match. Witt’s offense opened up the
other side of the court for 1996 Olympian and NCAA Final Four MVP
Mike Lambert – who led Stanford with 27 kills. But Bruin head coach
Al Scates failed in his bid to win three straight national titles
for a fourth time as his team could not complete a valiant comeback
attempt. The two-time defending champion Bruins did not go down
without a fight. UCLA strung up some rallies and, behind Nihipali
and quick hitters Adam Naeve and Danny Farmer, was able to force a
Game 5. "I am really proud of our team," Scates said. "We fought
hard, and coming back like that, down 0-2, it would have been easy
to go in the tank … at that point." But according to Scates, the
Cardinal, the pre-season No. 1, had the most talent in the nation,
composed themselves and outlasted the Bruins. "Even though we were
reeling after Game 4, we found a way to dig a little bit deeper and
pull together," Stanford head coach Ruben Nieves said. "We found a
way to win the match when everything was going UCLA’s way late in
the match." All night long Stanford seemed to be the more emotional
team. The Cardinal, an experienced team with four starting seniors
and seven on the roster, depended heavily on the desire to win
after many years of frustration and disappointments. The Bruins, on
the other hand, only have two graduating seniors – Nihipali and
swing hitter Trong Nguyen. Nguyen saw very limited time while
Nihipali almost recorded a triple double, leading all hitters with
29 kills, digging 10 balls and getting nine block assists. "We had
a great game out of Paul," sophomore swing hitter Fred Robins said.
"He did a great job leading us into the game, and I guess everybody
just followed his leadership." Whether or not Nihipali had a good
statistical night, the goal of a national championship to cap off
his career fell one game, and two points, short. The telling
statistic of every game turned out to be who hit for a better
percentage. Although the Bruins had outhit the Cardinal .229 to
.203 by the end of the match, Stanford outhit UCLA .323 to .162,
.340 to .109 and .190 to .125 in Games 1, 2 and 5 respectively. The
overall poor hitting nights by both teams was due largely to both
the digging and blocking performances of both teams. But in the end
for the Bruins, the deficit was too much. It will be one long year
before UCLA gets a chance to redeem itself. For Stanford, it was a
championship long forthcoming. "We cannot win all the time," Scates
said. GENEVIEVE LIANG/Daily Bruin Danny Farmer’s efforts helped the
Bruins come back from a 2-0 deficit, but were not enough to keep
UCLA from losing by two points. Photos by GENEVIEVE LIANG/Daily
Bruin (Top) Tom Stillwell, Eric Vallely and Trong Nguyen nervously
watch the championship match from the bench. The match was decided
by its final two points. (Left) The NCAA tournament most valuable
player award went to Stanford senior Mike Lambert, shown here
giving a high-five to a teammate. (Above) Paul Nihipali and Tom
Stillwell could not block Stanford’s path to victory. Stillwell’s
ineffective play eventually led him to be pulled from the match
after UCLA fell behind 2-0.