UCLA
Long Beach State (MPSF Championship)
Bruins Beat Long Beach State for MPSF Title
April 29, 2006 | Men's Volleyball
April 29, 2006
Seventh-seeded UCLA completed its remarkable run through the MPSF Tournament by defeating Long Beach State in four games Saturday to advance to the NCAA Championship at Penn State next week.
The Bruins won 24-30, 30-28, 30-23, 30-24 in two hours in front of 2,800 fans at UC Irvine's Bren Center. The victory was UCLA's 12th straight and raised its record to 24-12. The Beach fell to 23-10 and saw its six-match winning streak snapped.
With the victory, UCLA became the first team to win four matches in the MPSF Tournament and advance to the NCAA Championship. The Bruins are the lowest seeded team in MPSF history to win the conference's automatic berth.
Like their triumphs against UC Santa Barbara in the first round and vs. Hawaii in the quarterfinals, the Bruins fell in Game 1. Long beach State carried its momentum from Thursday's semifinal victory into to the finals and hit .348 on 12 kills, three aces and two total blocks. The Bruins, conversely, hit just .147 and recorded no blocks.
The Beach broke open a close game early, taking an 11-7 lead on a pair of Paul Lotman aces. The Bruins scored two straight points before the 49ers mounted a 7-1 run, highlighted by two kills from Norm Hutton and kills by Teddy Liles and Robert Tarr. Down 18-10, the Bruins had used both timeouts and The Beach cruised to a six-point margin.
"We didn't play very well in the first game, but that's not unusual," said Head Coach Al Scates. "We put it out of our heads and stepped it up."
In Game 2, the Bruins turned up the heat and the 49ers began to wilt. Although Long Beach State hit .393, the Bruins sizzled at .438 and improved their passing and blocking. In particular, UCLA's Steve Klosterman recorded five kills and a block assist.
The score remained close and the 49ers held a 25-24 advantage when the Bruins' Paul George and David Russell blocked Tarr's attempt after a long rally. George, after serving several hard serves, served a floater for an ace and the Bruins took a one-point lead. After Long Beach State timeout, the Bruins got another point off a bad set by the 49ers. The teams traded service errors, LBS got a kill from Norm Hutton, then gave it back with another service error. Another Hutton kill made it 29-28, but UCLA's Klosterman hammered the game-winner down the line.
"We didn't start playing Bruin volleyball until the third game," said George, who slammed four of his 16 kills in this game.
In Game 3, the Bruins hit .433 and served three aces. More importantly, they recorded 4.0 blocks and held the 49ers to a hitting percentage of .300. They held leads of 12-6 and 20-15 before The Beach rallied to two at 20-18 after Russell was called for interference. A pair of dinks by UCLA setter Dennis Gonzalez raised the Bruins' lead to four. At 26-23, UCLA scored the final four points to take a 2-1 lead.
UCLA held a 16-12 lead in Game 4 before The Beach climbed back into it. The 49ers blocked George twice, got an ace from Lotman and a kill from Duncan Budinger to tie the score at 16-16. The teams traded points until the Bruins went on a 4-0 run and took a 24-20 lead. The Beach rallied to within two at 25-23. The Bruins clinched the match with a 5-1 run, highlighted by Klosterman's two kills and an ace for the final point.
George and Klosterman led the Bruins with 16 kills apiece, followed by 13 from Scheftic, who hit .524. Gonzalez recorded 48 set assists and four kills, and sophomore libero Tony Ker recorded nine digs.
Seedings, pairings and times for the NCAA Championship, which begins on May 4, will be announced Sunday on ESPN News.
