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Thursday, April 30, 1998

Bruins hope to be well served for Final Four

PREVIEW: Top team UCLA faces third-seeded Lewis in semifinal match

By Grace Wen

Daily Bruin Staff

The teams are set.

The past is already behind them.

The UCLA men's volleyball team has had five days to recover, regroup and refocus for the most crucial four days of the season and start its quest for a record 17th NCAA Championship.

The second-seeded Bruins begin the NCAA tournament tonight with a clean slate. Though UCLA enters the Final Four with the best record at 26-4, previous wins and losses don't count for much now. All that matters are the next two games.

UCLA will play the first semifinal match against third-seed Lewis at 9:30 p.m. (PDT). The second semifinal match is scheduled for 11:30 p.m. (PDT) and will feature top seed Pepperdine versus No. four-seed Princeton.

The Bruins own a 5-0 record against the Flyers and have already defeated Lewis in an earlier meeting this year.

It may not be the same old story this time around since the return of Eduardo Quinones from injury changes the lineup.

Quinones is a 6-foot-3-inch outside hitter. The sophomore made an impact for the team in the Midwest Intercollegiate Volleyball Association's conference tournament. Quinones tallied up 70 kills in the three games, including 40 in the championship match.

But the Flyers' path to Hawaii wasn't a smooth flight. Lewis had to endure a grueling three hour, five minute title game against Loyola-Chicago. It was a match in which the Flyers set a team record 158 kills in 274 attempts and 155 assists. The Flyers won the game in five games - 12-15, 15-17, 15-10, 15-12, 22-20. The come-from-behind victory earned Lewis the chance to compete for the national title.

Helping to bring the Flyers to the tournament is Lewis standout Victor Rivera. Rivera was named the MIVA Player of the Year. And the junior has had a taste of individual success against the Bruins. In the 1996 NCAA Tournament, the then-freshman had 11 kills as he hit .450 while blocking three of UCLA's attempts. The following year, when Lewis extended the Bruins to five games at Pauley Pavilion, Rivera had 30 kills, dug 12 balls and blocked nine.

During Lewis' west coast swing, the Flyers were missing Quinones and other players due to injury. But the Flyers were able to take the fourth game off UCLA. However, though its key players are back in the mix, Lewis knows that just having Quinones back won't mean an easy time against the Bruins.

"We've got to pass well because UCLA does have some great jump servers," Lewis head coach Dave Deuser said. "Adam Naeve, Brandon Tagliaferro are really strong jump servers. And then we've got to play good defense."

While the Flyers are planning to try and combat UCLA's serves, the Bruins are hoping that their servers will show up to the semifinal match.

In its MPSF Championship loss to Pepperdine last week, UCLA served poorly with only one ace to its 27 service errors.

But despite the fact that Lewis did take a game off UCLA last time, the Bruins will probably advance to Saturday's Final and meet Pepperdine for the fourth time this season.

Last weekend's loss may not have hurt UCLA that much since it served as an important wake up-call.

"You can't beat them four times in a year," UCLA head coach Al Scates said. "We need to score against them. We sided out with them all night."AARON TOUT/Daily Bruin

UCLA spikes the ball during a game played this weekend against Pepperdine. Despite their loss, UCLA still has a spot in the NCAA Tournament.

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