UCLA
Stanford
Men's Volleyball Team Defeats Stanford in Five-Game Thriller
April 21, 2001 | Men's Volleyball
April 21, 2001
The UCLA men's volleyball team shook the monkey named Stanford from its back and won a five-game thriller Saturday night in the MPSF Tournament quarterfinals.
The Bruins (21-7) won 27-30, 30-23, 30-22, 27-30, 20-18 before 1,003 spectators in Pauley Pavilion in two hours and 18 minutes.
The victory was the Bruins' first against the Cardinal (14-9) this season after losses at home on Mar. 9 and at Stanford on Apr. 13.
Sophomore Cameron Mount and senior Mark Williams led UCLA with 26 kills apiece. Mount's kill total was a career high, Williams' total was a season best. All-American Adam Naeve spiked 19 kills (.607), served five aces and recorded four blocks and setter Rich Nelson and Libero Adam Shrader each added 10 digs.
Stanford's Brett Youngberg led his team with 21 kills (.741) and All-American Curt Toppel added 19 (.302).
The Bruins out-hit the Cardinal, .412-.325, out-blocked them, 12-9.5 and out-served them six aces to two. The Cardinal edged the Bruins in total digs, 44-42.
In Game 5, the Bruins gave away two points after leading 13-12 and were faced with Stanford's first match point before UCLA Coach Al Scates called timeout. Williams hit for a point to tie the score at 14 and the Bruins took the lead when Toppel committed a hitting error. But Stanford tied it at 15 on a kill by Paul Bocage and went ahead, 16-15, on Williams' hitting error. Williams tied the score again with another kill, but Youngberg gave the Cardinal a 17-16 lead with a kill. Two kills by Mount gave the Bruins the lead at 18-17, but Youngberg's kill knotted it at 18-18. A kill by Williams and a hitting error by Stanford's Marcus Skacel gave the Bruins the 20-18 margin of victory.
UCLA will advance to the MPSF semifinals against Long Beach State, which defeated Pepperdine, 3-0. The Bruins and 49ers will play on Thurs., Apr. 26 at Provo, UT. Top-seeded BYU advanced with a 3-0 victory at home against eighth-seededUC Irvine. The Cougars will meet the winner of the Hawaii-USC match, which was played at Hawaii.
