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Monday, March 1, 1999

Bruins eaten alive, lose six straight to Cougars

MVOLLEYBALL: Without Naeve, UCLA loses blocking battle, drops matches to No. 1 BYU

By Pauline Vu

Daily Bruin Contributor

This weekend, the No. 2 Bruins (11-5 overall, 9-4 MPSF) were swept by the top-ranked Cougars (15-0, 11-0) in six straight games, losing Friday by scores of 11-15, 0-15 and 13-15, and on Saturday by 11-15, 8-15 and 12-15, in a weekend defined by blowouts, runs and comeback rallies.

"I can count on one finger the number of times UCLA has been swept in six straight games. We're just going to enjoy this one," said BYU head coach Carl McGown.

"BYU played great. They're the No. 1 team, clearly," said UCLA head coach Al Scates.

Both matches were actually closer than the scores indicate. In Friday's match, game one opened with the Cougars jumping to an 8-3 lead before the Bruins fired up and tied them. The two teams remained neck-and-neck until 11-11, when BYU went on a four-point run and Mac Wilson's block gave the Cougars the last point needed to claim game one.

But after game one, a 43-minute struggle, Coach Scates gave his starters a rest and began to play the bench. The result was a 0-15 shutout in a mere 14 minutes, while UCLA was held to a -.094 hitting percentage.

"UCLA made some changes in the second game. They just had their wheels come off," McGown said.

In game three the Bruin starters again opened slowly, allowing the Cougars to jump to a 9-3 lead. Then the Bruins rallied to get within one point at 14-13 before committing a hitting error that gave BYU the final point, game and match.

Opposite Ed Ratledge led UCLA in kills with 22, while quick hitter Danny Farmer was second with 17 kills and led in everything else with eight digs and four blocks.

Scates still praised his team.

"I was proud of the team, particularly for getting blown out of the second game and still playing well in the third. They played hard the second night," coach Scates said.

And though playing hard wasn't enough for the Bruin men to win the second match, it was enough for them to put up a respectable fight against overwhelming odds.

Game one started with BYU taking a 7-2 lead before UCLA fought back to get within one point at 9-8. BYU's Hector Lebron had a block that resulted in BYU's 5-0 run. UCLA then had a 3-0 run of their own to come within two points at 14-12 before Lebron came up with the game-winning block.

In game two, UCLA took their first lead of the weekend by scoring first, but this slight victory was short-lived as the Cougars went on an 8-0 run to lead, 10-3. The Bruins chipped away and fought the score to 11-7 before BYU's star middle blocker Jeff Millar had a kill that swung the momentum back toward the Cougars and Rich Lambourne's cross-court kill ended the game's hope for UCLA at 15-8.

The last game was more even, with the two teams struggling their way to a 11-11 tie, but UCLA committed five service errors to give BYU a 14-13 lead. Then, mirroring game one, Lebron ended the match with a block to give BYU its first-ever two-match sweep over the Bruins.

Opposite Evan Thatcher came off the bench to lead the Bruins in kills with 20 and a hitting percentage of .613. Outside hitter Fred Robins had 14 kills and a match-high 16 digs, while Farmer was third with 11.

"Evan was really hot. He hit the best I've ever seen him hit. They put a three-man block on Danny the second night. (BYU) figured they needed to stop him after a great first night. Freddie's probably the best defensive player in the league," Scates said.

In both games, opposite Ossie Antonetti led the Cougars in kills with 23 and 29.

Scates' pre-game worries included the possibly biased officiating of the referees. There were only a few times when the referees' call was questionable, however, including one point at the end of game three in Friday's match with the score 13-13.

"We had the momentum going and a scoring opportunity when they called a mishandled ball on (setter) Brandon Taliaferro when it was a good set," Scates said. Later videotape observation revealed at least five questionable calls in favor of BYU.

The referees were backed by fans who set a new Smith Fieldhouse record of 5,834 and an announcer who Scates called "a cheerleader-DJ. They really fired the crowd up."

One crucial factor that both coaches acknowledged in the Bruins' loss was the loss of All-American blocker Adam Naeve to an ankle sprain from last week's UC Irvine game.

"Given the fact (that) one of the best players in UCLA history was not in uniform, it was a fragile victory for us," McGown said.

"(Adam) would've made a big difference no question about it," Scates said.

One result of the loss of Naeve included BYU out-blocking UCLA in the first match, 17 to 9, and 14 to 6 in the second match.

Scates is still optimistic about the rest of the season.

"If we can play through (three straight losses), we should be fine. It's hard to lose and still maintain that fighting spirit. However, I think this group has the ability to overcome that," he said.

"We're going to have to get it together real fast. Our schedule doesn't get any easier."

The Bruins play No. 3 Long Beach State (9-1) at home on Wednesday.

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