UCLA
Penn St
Scates Wins His 1,100th as UCLA sweeps Penn State
March 08, 2005 | Men's Volleyball
March 8, 2005
The No.1 ranked UCLA men's volleyball team defeated fourth-ranked Penn State Tuesday night in Pauley Pavilion to give coach Al Scates his 1,100th career victory.
Scates, 1,100-196 (.848), has guided UCLA to 18 NCAA titles and 24 conference championships in his 43 years as the Bruins' head coach. "It's quite a milestone," said Scates. "It's a veteran team we have this year. We just want to win our last match."
Scates holds the NCAA record for national titles in a single sport. Arkansas' John McDonnell can tie the record this weekend if the Razorbacks win the NCAA men's indoor track and field championship in Fayetteville.
Tuesday night, the Bruins won 30-22, 30-27, 30-28 in 90 minutes before 544 fans. The victory raised their record to 17-2 overall. Penn State, which entered the match with a nation-leading 16-match winning streak, fell to 16-3.
Statistically, the Nittany Lions outplayed the Bruins in all but a few categories that made the difference in the match. Penn State hit .318 for the match, including .519 in Game 3, and out-blocked UCLA 15.5-6.0. But the Bruins took 29 more swings (117-88) and converted 11 more kills. UCLA also served nine aces to PSU's one.
Seniors Jonathan Acosta (.522) and Allan Vince (.385) led UCLA with 13 kills each. Senior Paul Johnson added 11 kills, two total blocks and an ace. Senior Kris Kraushaar led the Bruins with three aces.
Matt Proper led the Nittany Lions with 17 kills (.433) and Kevin Wentzel added 10 kills (.750) off the bench.
UCLA travels to unranked USC Thurs., Mar. 10 before visiting No.2 Pepperdine on Sat., Mar. 12. Both matches start at 7 p.m.
