UCLA looks for revenge against Stanford
By Daily Bruin Staff
April 19, 2001 9:00 p.m.
 LIISA SPINK Senior Mark Williams (left)
looks on as junior Matt Komer returns the ball in
a game against Stanford earlier this season.
By Amanda Fletcher
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
In a bizarre twist of fate, the UCLA men’s volleyball team
enters the first round of Mountain Pacific Sports Federation
playoffs against the only team that has beaten them twice this
season ““ Stanford.
So as the No. 3-seeded Bruins (20-7 overall, 12-5 MPSF) face the
No. 6 Stanford Cardinal (14-8, 10-7) Saturday at 7 p.m. in Pauley
Pavilion, they’re hoping that the third time is the
charm.
Their last loss came on April 13 in Maples Pavilion where the
rowdy home crowd and scorekeeping mistakes made the difference.
“Little things have determined the outcome of the previous
games,” UCLA Head Coach Al Scates said, referring to a
scorekeeping blunder where Stanford was awarded two points for one
play. The close 30-28 loss in that game was the back-breaker and
the Cardinal went on to destroy the Bruins 30-24 to end the
match.
This time, though, the Bruins aren’t leaving anything to
chance.
“We’ve tried to get an idea about their styles of
hitting which we haven’t done before,” Scates said.
“I think it will allow us to score on them better than we
have in the past.
“We’re looking at their offense and working on
putting our defense in the right spot.”
The Bruins will also have the added advantage of playing at
home, something which helped the Cardinal dominate in the last
match.
“Stanford played a lot better at home than they did in
Pauley,” Scates said.
As the home team, Stanford was able to suit up extra players who
stood on the sidelines and distracted the Bruins by crowding the
sideline and making a lot of noise.
But winning isn’t just about who has the home court
advantage, especially since the Bruins’ first loss to
Stanford came in their own gym.
Last time, the Bruins made 20 hitting errors and only hit
.255.
This means the Bruins will have to improve technically if they
expect to stop the Cardinal.
“We have to block better than we have in the past. We have
to hit better too,” Scates said. “We’re going to
have to challenge their blocker as opposed to having some unforced
errors.”
Last year, UCLA lost to Long Beach State right before playoffs.
After that match, they went on to win their next six making them
the first place seed going into NCAAs and ultimately giving them
their 18th national title.
The Bruins are confident they will be able to reproduce such a
winning streak heading into playoffs this season.
“When it’s playoff time the Bruins will be
ready,” Scates said.
They better be because with a third strike, they’re
out.
