UCLA
IPFW
Men's Volleyball Downs Mastodons
January 27, 2000 | Men's Volleyball
Jan. 27, 2000
HONOLULU - The top-ranked UCLA mens volleyball team won its seventh straight match, defeating No. 4 Indiana-Purdue, Fort Wayne, 3-1 Thursday in the second night of action at the 6th Annual Outrigger Hotels Invitational in Honolulu, HI.
The Bruins won 15-2, 15-11, 12-15, 15-4 in two hours and 11 minutes at the Stan Sheriff Center.
The Bruins (7-0) won Games 1 & 2 handily, dispatching the Mastodons in 49 minutes while hitting .432. They were led by 10 kills from senior Evan Thatcher and three aces from senior All-America setter Brandon Taliaferro.
But the 10-minute break between games sapped UCLAs intensity for the second straight match. Although they held a 12-8 lead in the third game, IPFW (2-3) battled back behind senior All-America Hector Soto. Soto, who pounded 15 kills in Game 2, responded with 11 in Game 3, and the Mastodons added five team blocks to score the final seven points of the game.
In Game 4, the Bruins broke a 3-3 tie when sophomore Matt Komer came off the bench and hammered six kills. Taliaferro, who broke the UCLA career ace record Wednesday night, added a pair of aces, a block and three digs to seal the victory.
Senior Evan Thatcher (16 kills) led a UCLA hitting attack that featured four players in double-digit spikes: sophomore Mark Williams (13, .346), senior Seth Burnham (11, .476, five blocks) and freshman Cameron Mount (11). Both Taliaferro and senior Matt Davis recorded a season best 14 digs.
Soto spiked 37 kills for IPFW, followed by senior Scott Lane, who added 11.
The Bruins, two-time defending Outrigger champions, meet Hawaii Friday night for the championship at 7 p.m.
