UCLA
Pepperdine
Scates Wins No. 1,000 at Pepperdine
February 04, 2001 | Men's Volleyball
Feb. 4, 2001
The fourth-ranked UCLA men's volleyball team finally earned its fifth victory of the season, giving long-time Head Coach Al Scates his 1,000th career victory. UCLA defeated Pepperdine, 3-1, Saturday night in Malibu.
The Bruins (5-3, 1-1) won 25-30, 32-30, 30-28, 30-26 in two hours before a raucous homecoming crowd of 2,567. Scates' career record now stands at 1,000-162 in his 39th season.
UCLA senior Adam Naeve served a school record of 10 aces, including four in a row to begin Game 3, and junior Ian Burnham spiked a match-high of 16 kills with two aces and three block assists. Junior Matt Komer added 13 kills (.333) with four total blocks.
Senior Scott Wong led Pepperdine (6-2, 2-2) with 15 kills (.500) and added six aces, seven digs and three total blocks. Junior Lance Walker added 11 kills.
The Bruins were unable to overcome a 6-1 Pepperdine run in the middle of Game 1, although they battled back to 21-23 on one of Naeve's aces. But a 3-0 Pepperdine run made it 26-21 and UCLA never got closer than four points.
Neither team held more than a two-point lead in Game 2 until Burnham ignited a 5-0 streak after the score was tied at 21-21. He served five straight points, including a pair of aces. But Pep tied it at 26-26 on a service error by UCLA setter Rich Nelson and Burnham's hitting error. The Bruins took the lead on Nelson's kill and went up 29-26 on kills by Naeve and Komer. The Waves rallied again and tied the game at 30-30 on a kill by freshman Fred Winters. Burnham's kill gave the Bruins a 31-30 lead and sophomore Scott Morrow's kill gave them the game.
After scoring the first point in Game 3 on a bad set, the Bruins got four consecutive aces from Naeve to take a 5-0 lead. But Pep managed to close the gap to 7-6 after two blocks by junior Chris Van Reusen and a kill by junior Lance Walker. The Bruins held leads of 12-9, 16-12 and 18-14 only to watch the Waves climb back and tie the game at 18-18 with Wong serving four straight points, including a pair of aces. From there the teams traded kills and blocks. A service error by Pep's Beau Daniels gave the Bruins a 29-27 lead, but Naeve's service error made it 29-28. Burnham's kill sealed the game for UCLA, which now held a 2-1 lead.
Entering the match, the Bruins were 1-5 in the fourth game and three times this season they had lost the last two games to give away the match. But in this match, they erased a 3-1 Pepperdine lead and never let the Waves out of their sight. This game saw nine ties before the 15th point after which the Bruins pulled away. Two aces by Naeve gave the Bruins a 20-16 lead. The Waves closed to 22-21 on an ace by Wong, but after Scates called a timeout, Wong served into the net to give the Bruins a two-point cushion. Trailing 27-23, the Waves rallied to 28-26 on an ace by sophomore Matt Showley and Burnham's hitting error. Scates called his final timeout after which Burnham nailed a kill for 29-26 and Komer added another kill to seal the match.
"It's a tribute to all the great players we've had at UCLA," said Scates. "Several of them were here tonight, and it means a lot to me. I will remember this forever."
