UCLA
Cal State Northridge
Bruins Upset No. 2 Matadors on the Road
January 23, 2010 | Men's Volleyball
Jan. 23, 2010
Final Stats | Match Highlights
Anyone predicting an 82-minute sweep in a hostile arena against the No.2 ranked team in the country Friday night would have been banished from the Matadome to breathe the pure, freezing oxygen after a week of cleansing rains. Better to clear their sinuses, which must be clogged after such an uncharacteristic five-day soaking.
But those who supported the Bruins were rewarded with a much sunnier outlook and watched their own foreboding weather phenomenon -- for UCLA's remaining opponents, that is.
Tenth-ranked UCLA stunned No.2 Cal State Northridge 30-21, 30-24, 30-21 in front a 692 sedate fans who never saw much to cheer about at the Matadome. The victory gave UCLA a modest two-match winning streak, raised its record to 3-4 overall and 2-2 in MPSF play. CS Northridge suffered its first loss in seven matches this season and dropped to 3-1 in conference play. The victory also snapped UCLA's four-match losing streak to CS Northridge and prevented the hosts from winning their first seven matches to start a season.
Against the second-best serving team in the league, the Bruins committed just one reception error and served the Matadors off the court with eight aces -- five by fourth-year junior Dylan Bowermaster. Numerous other serves had the Matadors chasing errant passes.
So dominant were the Bruins that they held the MPSF's most effective offense to an attack percentage of .052, nearly .200 points below its average. UCLA, the worst blocking team in the league, won the war at the net with a 14.0-8.0 advantage -- including 7.5-2.0 in Game 1.
The faithful Bruin optimists could see glimpses of this performance on the horizon. On Wednesday night, UCLA played an outstanding first set in a victory against visiting UC Santa Barbara. Their focus wavered during that five-game triumph, but they saw their potential.
"We let them watch that first set in our film session," explained head coach Al Scates. "It fired them up."
The intensity burned for three games, and when it seemed to flicker in Game 2 after the Matadors took a 17-15 lead following a 3-0 run, Scates called his only timeout of the match. The Bruins dug in and tied the game at 20-20, forcing the hosts to burn their second timeout.
It didn't help. UCLA went on a 3-0 run on a CSN hitting error, a block by senior Garrett Muagututia and sophomore Thomas Amberg and an ace by senior Kevin Ker. Three kills by sophomore Jack Polales in a 7-4 run to end the set gave the Bruins a shocking 2-0 games lead.
In Game 3 after trading the first 20 points, the Bruins broke away on a series of CSN miscues that gave the visitors a 16-12 lead. Sensing the bleeding wouldn't stop, Northridge Coach Jeff Campbell didn't bother to call a timeout and the Bruins continued to roll with Bowermaster, Ker and Muagututia scoring at will from the service line.
"This was a huge victory for our confidence more than anything else," said Scates.
Indeed, the competitive climate is changing.
