Bruins, undeterred after thwarted first game, shoot down Trojans

Thursday, February 5, 1998

Bruins, undeterred after thwarted first game, shoot down
Trojans

VOLLEYBALL: Dual threat from Stillwell, Farmer prove too hot to
handle for USC crosstown rivals

By Grace Wen

Daily Bruin Staff

The UCLA men’s volleyball team may not have beat crosstown rival
USC as bad as it could have last night, but it did come away with
its sixth straight Kilgour Cup victory.

At first it didn’t seem like the Bruins were ready to play, but
after the first match, UCLA picked up its game and defeated USC
13-15, 15-3, 15-9, 15-9.

"We sucked the first game," UCLA setter Brandon Taliaferro said.
"We didn’t come to play. We thought they were just going to roll
over and it didn’t happen. We just can’t come out and play flat
like that and think we’re just going to roll teams cause it’s not
going to happen. Everybody wants to beat us and everybody is going
to fire up. We just have to be prepared the whole match
through."

In game one, the Bruins (7-0, 4-0 MPSF) took a quick 7-3 lead
with some tough serving by Adam Naeve and Ben Moselle who each had
aces. The Bruin serve forced several bad passes while the Trojans
(2-6, 1-5) struggled to find a hitter who could put the ball away.
However, the UCLA lead would evaporate as Southern Cal tied the
match at 10-10. Eight hitting errors late in the game would cost
UCLA game one.

The Bruins turned it around in game two when junior Danny Farmer
was inserted into the middle while Naeve was moved to opposite.

"It was nice to try that lineup without practicing it," UCLA
head coach Al Scates said. "We didn’t seem to have much hitting
ability at the opposite position tonight. Farmer came in hot and
really picked us up with his hitting. He’s instant offense. He’s so
quick when he comes in, and he seems to be ready right off the
bench."

Farmer would finish the night with 13 kills and a .500 hitting
percentage. But it wasn’t just Farmer’s hitting that turned it
around for UCLA.

The block of Tom Stillwell and Naeve shut down the Trojan’s best
hitter, Szilard Kovacs. Stillwell recorded seven blocks during the
match while hammering 17 kills.

In addition, USC just could not handle the Bruins’ blistering
jump serve as UCLA bombed nine aces and ran away with the
match.

"I think we stopped passing," USC head coach Pat Powers said.
"They played a little bit better. We’re a young team. I thought we
played really well."

MICHAEL ROSS WACHT

Tom Stillwell?!?!?!?!?!Check sports editor?!?!?!?!soars above
this LMU Lion blocker for a totally radical spike.