Team sets, spikes, kills Long Beach

  Michael Mantel UCLA team captain Matt
Komer blasts one of his 20 kills against Long Beach
State.

By Diamond Leung
Daily Bruin Senior Staff

Matt Komer couldn’t believe it. The UCLA senior outside
hitter was having a career night but had just cost his team
badly.

In hopes of saving game point in Game 3, Komer smashed the ball,
and a Long Beach State defender actually dug the attack.

Komer watched the ball in the air, sailing back towards him. The
ball was out, he thought. But it landed on the line ““ at his
feet. He looked up for a second to argue, but realized he
didn’t have a case. LBSU led two games to one. Komer’s
head dropped.

But he didn’t stay down. Komer kept attacking. Behind his
season-high 20 kills, the top-ranked Bruins escaped from No. 13
Long Beach State’s upset bid, winning 30-28, 25-30, 35-37,
30-21, 15-8, Thursday night at Pauley Pavilion. UCLA (8-1, 3-0
MPSF) has now won six matches in a row.

“We don’t get down on ourselves, we have
confidence,” said Komer, who also notched seven digs and a
career-high eight blocks. “I kept calling for the ball, and I
knew I could put it away.”

“Komer hadn’t hit a ball in two days. We rested him
this week in practice,” UCLA head coach Al Scates added.
“And I’m sure he’ll rest his arm good
tomorrow.”

The Bruins sure needed that arm of Komer’s Thursday. Every
last swing from it. Freshman outside hitter Jonathan Acosta,
UCLA’s current leader in kills, was sidelined with a stomach
pull.

“We missed Acosta out there, but Komer and Parker Smith
played well for us,” Scates said.

Parker who? Smith was not even listed in the night’s
program, let alone the media guide. The sophomore had expected to
redshirt the season, but due to injuries to three players ahead of
him on the depth chart, he found himself starting for Acosta.

“I’m not going to lie, I was nervous,” Smith
said. “But confidence helped us come through. We were down,
but we had beat them before (last week), and we knew that we were
going to beat them again.”

Smith came through with a big block in Game 5 to give UCLA the
lead for good.

LBSU sophomore outside hitter Jeff Wootten matched Komer’s
20 kills, and Scott Touzinsky added 17.

But for the most part, UCLA dominated at the net, with sophomore
middle blocker Chris Peña registering a match-high 11 blocks.
The Bruins blocked the 49ers 23 times and held them to a horrific
.114 hitting percentage.

“Fall apart? Yeah we fell apart,” 49er head coach
Alan Knipe said. “We hit too many balls out of bounds in the
fifth game. It’s tough to beat the No. 1 team in the country
like that.”

To be exact, LBSU had nine, count them, nine hitting errors in
the deciding fifth game. UCLA needed only four kills to amass the
necessary 15 points to win the game.

And it didn’t help LBSU (3-7, 1-3) that Komer, hot hand
and all, was begging for his team to set him.

Komer, who grew up only a few miles from the Long Beach State
campus, loves playing the 49ers.

“Oh yeah,” he said, smiling.

UCLA faces the UC San Diego (1-5, 0-4) tomorrow in La Jolla.