No one beats Al Scates on court, in rankings

Wednesday, June 3, 1998

No one beats Al Scates on court, in rankings

VOLLEYBALL: Individuals, team continue to capture awards after
winning title

By Grace Wen

Daily Bruin Staff

The awards just don’t stop for Al Scates and the UCLA men’s
volleyball team.

Head coach Scates was named the 1998 Tachikara/AVCA National
Coach of the Year on Monday.

1998 has been a record setting season for Scates. Earlier in
May, Scates picked up the biggest award of all. He earned his 17th
national title when the Bruins swept Pepperdine in the finals. The
win moved him past Houston golf coach Dave Williams for the most
individual championships by a coach.

Under Scates’ tutelage, UCLA compiled a record of 24-4 against
ranked opponents and finished the season 28-4.

"It’s a nice honor because the other coaches vote for (the
award), so that’s very meaningful to me," Scates said. "I
appreciate that. It’s always interesting to see who wins that
award. I’ve won it a few times."

Four times, to be exact. Scates received Coach of the Year
honors in 1984, 1987 and 1993. He was last named Coach of the Year
in 1996, after leading a team that lost four starters from the
previous year’s national championship squad to an unprecedented
16th title.

Scates is the winningest volleyball coach of all time, with a
record of 946-147 (.865). He is also the only coach to have
surpassed the 900-victory mark. In 1995, he was selected as one of
the inaugural recipients of USA Volleyball’s All-Time Great
Volleyball Coaches Award. In addition, he was the first active
coach to be inducted into the Volleyball Hall of Fame in 1993.

In addition, Scates has coached 10 different players to 20 AVCA
All-American honors.

Two of those players include sophomores Adam Naeve and Brandon
Taliaferro, both named first team All-Americans in 1998 after being
honored as second teamers in their rookie seasons. Naeve, also
named the NCAA Tournament MVP, finished the 1998 campaign hitting
.421 and averaging 5.5 kills per game. His 56 service aces broke
the single season record set by Stein Metzger in 1996.

Taliaferro ran the Bruin offense, tallying 1,848 assists for the
year, a single season record. The setter also contributed to
another single season UCLA record – 217 team aces. Taliaferro
ranked second on the squad with 51 aces.

The duo was also named first team All-Americans in the
Asics/Volleyball Magazine poll. Others receiving acclaim by
Volleyball include seniors Tom Stillwell (third team) and Ben
Moselle (honorable mention). Stillwell finished the season hitting
.445 with 128 blocks to bring his career total to 534, which ranks
second on the UCLA career blocking charts.

Moselle played both outside and opposite as a senior. He spiked
350 kills, a career best, to finish his career with 646
overall.

UCLA garnered the most awards by Volleyball Magazine with four
players being honored. These individual accolades mean little to
the team, however, since the most important award, the National
Championship, was won by all.