UCLA
Laval (Outrigger Tournament)
UCLA Outlasts Laval 3-2 in Outrigger Invitational
January 17, 2001 | Men's Volleyball
Jan. 17, 2001
The fifth-ranked UCLA men's volleyball team survived a scare Wednesday night in the first match of the 7th Annual Outrigger Hotels Invitational, hosted by the University of Hawai'i at the Stan Sheriff Center.
UCLA (2-2) defeated Laval Universite of Quebec, 33-31, 30-23, 22-30, 24-30, 18-16 in two hours and 43 minutes. The match was an exhibition because Laval is a Canadian institution.
Junior Matt Komer led the Bruins with 18 kills (.378) and added five digs and three blocks. Junior Ian Burnham spiked 11 kills (.474) in two games, and freshman Chris Pe?a was UCLA's leading blocker with seven.
UCLA dominated the net, out-blocking (20-10) and out-hitting (.261-.201) its opponent.
After taking a 2-0 lead, Head Coach Al Scates pulled his starters and inserted a new lineup for Game 3. Led by sophomore setter Rich Nelson, the Bruins took early leads of 8-5, 12-8 and 15-12. The Rouge et Or (Red and Gold) then outscored the Bruins 18-7 to take the game. After hitting .394 and .441 in Games 1 & 2, the Bruins fell to .036 in the third game largely on the breakdown of their passing.
For Game 4, Scates replaced Libero David Lin with freshmen Adam Shrader, who started the match. But the Rouge et Or sprinted to a quick 10-5 lead and never looked back.
In the fifth game, UCLA never let Laval out of its sight, and actually held an 8-5 lead before the Canadians called a timeout. Three unforced errors by the Bruins and a kill by Laval's Eric Lebreton, who led all players with 28 kills, brought the Canadians back into the match. UCLA then took a 13-10 lead on three straight Laval errors, but saw it disappear on a kill by setter Gabriel Giguere and two hitting errors of its own. The teams traded points until the score was tied at 16-16. Laval committed blocking and hitting errors to give the Bruins the victory.
Prior to the match, UCLA senior Mark Williams sprained his ankle and sat out the match. He was listed as questionable for the remainder of the tournament.
UCLA meets Penn State Thursday night at 7 p.m. (PST) and the match will be broadcast live on ucabruins.com.
