Bruins Host Cougars In MPSF Quarterfinals Saturday

Bruins Host Cougars In MPSF Quarterfinals Saturday

April 18, 2000

LOS ANGELES - Fourth-ranked UCLA (24-5, 14-5) hosts sixth-ranked BYU (18-8, 13-6) in the MPSF quarterfinals Sat., Apr. 22 in Pauley Pavilion. First Serve is scheduled for 7 p.m.

The BYU match will be broadcast on broadcast.com by UCLA's radio team of Lou Riggs, Mike Sondheimer and Paul Nihipali.

The 2000 Bruins - Last Saturday night, the Bruins swept UC Irvine to give their five seniors a memorable send-off in their final regular season home match.

On Apr. 8, the Bruins defeated Pepperdine, 3-1, in Pauley Pavilion to avenge an earlier five-game loss to the Waves in Malibu.

On April 5, the Bruins suffered their first loss ever to Loyola Marymount, a four-game setback in Pauley Pavilion. The loss snapped UCLA's 11-match winning streak and its 59-match winning streak against LMU.

Following spring recess, the Bruins returned to action on Mar. 31 and defeated Cal State Northridge, 3-1, on the road to extend their winning streak to 11 matches.

On Mar. 17 and 18, the Bruins extended their winning streak to 10 matches with a pair of four-game victories over Hawaii on the road.

For the week of Mar. 6, the Bruins swept matches against UC Santa Barbara (Mar. 8), Ball State (Mar. 10) and Concordia of New York (Mar. 11).

During the week of Feb. 28, the Bruins won three four-game matches over top 10 ranked teams, defeating BYU, Mar. 1 & 2, and beating Lewis on Mar. 4. The BYU victories enabled the Bruins to overtake the Cougars for second place in the MPSF Mountain Division race. The victory over Lewis was UCLA's sixth this season over a team ranked in the top 10.

On Feb. 26, the Bruins beat UC Irvine, 3-1, on the road.

The Bruins won two of three home league contests during the week of Feb. 14, beating San Diego State, 3-0, on Feb. 16, losing to CS Northridge, 3-1, on Feb. 17 and defeating UC Santa Barbara, 3-2, on Feb. 19.

For the week of Feb. 7, the Bruins split a pair of league matches, losing, 3-2, at Pepperdine on Feb. 10 and sweeping UC San Diego at home on Feb. 11.

The Bruins suffered their first loss of the season, a 3-2 defeat in Pauley Pavilion to arch-rival USC on Feb. 4. They defeated Loyola-Marymount, 3-0 on Feb. 2.

UCLA won its third straight Outrigger Hotels Invitational by beating No. 10 Penn State (3-1, Jan.26), No. 6 IPFW (3-1, Jan. 27) and No. 8 Hawaii (3-2, Jan. 28). Senior All-America setter Brandon Taliaferro was named MVP at the Outrigger.

The Bruins began the season by upsetting preseason top-ranked Long Beach State, 3-2, on Jan. 7. The Bruins also swept matches against the University of the Pacific and UC Irvine on Jan. 8 to capture the Wyndham Gardens West Coast Challenge title.

UCLA Head Coach Al Scates - He is in his 38th campaign with an overall record of 990-158 (.863). Scates has won 19 national championships, including a single sport record of 17 NCAA titles. His career coaching record leads all NCAA volleyball coaches in every division of both genders. He is the only volleyball coach to have guided three teams to undefeated records (1979, 1982 and 1984) and four teams to four consecutive NCAA titles (1981-84). In 1998, Scates captured a rare trifecta: earning the AVCA, U.S. Olympic Committee and USA Volleyball Coach of the Year honors.

Noting the Opponents - Sixth-ranked and defending NCAA champion BYU (18-8, 13-6) ended its season Apr. 7-8 by winning a two-match home series against UC Santa Barbara. After winning 12 of their first 15 matches, including victories over Pepperdine and USC, the Cougars dropped five of their last 10 matches, including a two-match series to UCLA, Mar. 1-2 at Pauley.

Always a strong blocking team, the Cougars were ranked first last week in league blocking at 8.86 bpg just ahead of the Bruins at 7.89. Junior MB Scott Bunker leads BYU in blocking at 2.11 bpg, followed by junior MB Mac Wilson at 1.98 bpg. BYU also ranked first in league digging at 12.11 dpg, and were led individually by senior Libero Brad Goldston (3.12), senior OH Casey Jennings (2.13) and senior setter Chris Pitzak (2.11).

Last Match - Junior Mark Williams led the Bruins with 10 kills in the sweep of the Anteaters. UCLA hit .480 for the match, including .765 (14-1-17) in Game 1. Williams and freshman Scott Morrow were the leading blockers with four each. The Bruins raised the series record against the Anteaters to 39-1.

Player Notes - Against BYU (3/1), senior Seth Burnham recorded a career high of 21 kills and 10 blocks. He has recorded nine blocks vs. Stanford (1/22), UCI (2/26) and Hawaii (3/18). His block of Costas Theocharidis at match point against UH (1/28) sealed the victory. Last week in blocking he ranked in a tie for ninth nationally (1.64) and seventh in the MPSF (1.59).

Senior All-America setter Brandon Taliaferro was named AVCA National Player of the Week on March 6 after leading the Bruins to victories over BYU and Lewis.

He became the Bruins career set assists leader with 78 against Stanford. Taliaferro now has 6,507 career set assists after recording 118 last week. He is tied for fifth on the AVCA all-time assists chart. Last week, he ranked seventh nationally (18.37) and second in league (19.47).

Taliaferro is UCLA's career ace leader with 162. Last week, he ranked second nationally (.595) and seventh in MPSF ace average (.419). Against Hawaii (3/18) he served all five of UCLA's aces and served seven straight points to close out Game 3. He ranks sixth all-time in the AVCA record books in total aces.

Taliaferro matched a career high with 12 kills in the victory over Hawaii (1/28). He also added 12 digs and six blocks in that match while earning Outrigger Hotels MVP honors and MPSF Player of the Week acclaim (1/31). He is UCLA's career digs leader with 790. His season high for digs is 16 set against USC Feb. 4. He has recorded 14 double-digit dig matches in the 22 matches in which he has played. He ranked eighth nationally last week (2.69) and fourth in league (2.7).

Senior Matt Davis is UCLA's single season digs leader with 322 this year. He posted a career-high of 22 digs vs. BYU (3/1). He also recorded 20 digs vs. Pepperdine (2/10). He now has three career matches with 20 or more digs. He also recorded 18 vs. CS Northridge (2/17), 16 vs. Hawaii (3/17), 15 vs. BYU (3/2), UCSB (3/8) and Hawaii (3/18), 14 vs. IPFW (1/27) and 13 vs. USC (2/10). Overall, he has 17 double-digit dig matches this season. Davis' two biggest digs of the season came at match point against Hawaii (1/28), when he dug UH outside hitter Clay Stanley twice in the same rally of Game 5 before the Bruins got a key block to tie the score. Last week, he ranked first nationally in dig average (3.18) and first in the MPSF (3.33).

Junior Mark Williams aced USC six times, tying the school record. For the season he leads the Bruins with 47 aces, a total that ranks sixth on the single season UCLA charts. His 97 career aces ranks sixth behind Kevin Wong (107) on UCLA's career aces chart. Last week, he ranked fourth in league ace average (.470) and 12th nationally (.452).

Against UCSB (2/19), he spiked a career high of 29 kills in 48 attempts. He also added 22 against UCSB (3/8) and 21 against UC Irvine (2/26).

Senior Evan Thatcher pounded his 900th career kill vs. BYU (3/2). He now has 998 career kills, tied with former All-American Dan Landry for eighth place.

Freshman Greg Coon started two matches against Hawaii and had a streak of six straight starts, beginning with the Lewis match. Against BYU (3/2), he came in for senior Seth Burnham and recorded 10 kills and seven blocks. In his first career start against Lewis he responded with 17 kills (.615) and nine blocks, both career highs. He matched his career best of nine blocks against Ball State. He came off the bench against CS Northridge (3/31) and contributed four kills, four blocks and one ace. He is now averaging 1.68bpg to rank second on the team.

Freshman Scott Morrow pounded a career high of 20 kills (.720) against LMU (4/5). He spiked 18 kills vs. SDSU (2/16) and 17 kills (.727) against Stanford. He added 16 kills (.625) and 10 total blocks vs. Hawaii (1/28). He has six other double-digit block matches this season: career high 12 vs. Pepperdine (4/8), 11 vs. UOP (1/21), BYU (3/2) and UH (3/17), and 10 vs. Long Beach State (1/7). Against Pepperdine (2/10) he blocked nine balls, including a career best four solos. In blocking, he ranked fourth nationally (1.91) and second in league (2.08). In hitting percentage, he ranked 10th nationally (.437) and fifth in league (.461).

Freshman Rich Nelson started five matches from Feb. 11-26, and led the Bruins to a record of 4-1. He also set the Bruins in Games 3, 4 & 5 of the Long Beach State (1/7) victory as well as their wins against UOP (1/8) and UC Irvine (1/8). Overall, his record as a starter is 6-1 and the Bruins have a 7-1 record in matches in which he has played. He recorded a career high of 102 set assists in the loss to CS Northridge. (Senior Ed Ratledge spiked 46 of those set assists.) In 28 games, he is averaging 17.9 assists per game, 1.4 digs per game and 1.0 blocks per game.

Senior Ed Ratledge hammered a career high of 46 kills in a 3-1 loss to CS Northridge (2/17). In addition, he spiked 43 kills (.508) against Hawaii, 34 against BYU (3/1) and 33 against UCSB (2/19). He also broke his own school record by connecting on 21 kills in Game 4 against Northridge. He leads the Bruins with an average of 5.4kpg.

Sophomore Matt Komer, who battled a back injury during the Fall, worked his way into the lineup against BYU. In the match on March 1, he spiked 14 kills and added four blocks in the four-game victory. In the March 2 contest, he led the Bruins with 23 kills, a career high, and 10 digs, another career best, to go along with three blocks in his first career start. He recorded 18 kills, seven digs and five blocks (career high) against Pepeprdine (4/8). Against UC Irvine (2/26) he slammed 16 kills (.393) and recorded eight digs and five blocks, and against UCSB (2/19), he contributed 14 kills (.300) with 10 digs and four blocks, including a career best two solos. Against UCSB (3/8), he spiked 16 kills (.333) to go along with four digs and three blocks.

UCLA VB Quick Facts

Team Record: 24-5, 14-5 MPSF Mnt. Division

Upcoming Matches:
Apr. 22 BYU at UCLA*, 7 p.m. (PP)
*MPSF quarterfinals. PP - Pauley Pavilion

Recent Results:
Apr. 12 LBS d. UCLA, 3-1
Apr. 14 UCLA d. UCI, 3-0

Probable Bruin Starters:

#1Seth Burnham, 6-7, Sr., Q, Santa Cruz, CA
OR
#18Greg Coon, 6-4, Sr., Q, Newport Beach, CA
#3Brandon Taliaferro, 6-5, Sr., S, San Clemente, CA
#5Mark Williams, 6-7, Jr., OH, Los Angeles, CA
#9Evan Thatcher, 6-8, Sr., Op, Encinitas, CA
OR
#24Ed Ratledge, 6-8, Sr. Op, Fountain Valley, CA
#14Scott Morrow, 6-8, Fr., Q, Encinitas, CA
#16Cameron Mount, 6-8, Fr., OH, Santa Barbara, CA
OR
#25Matt Komer, 6-7, So., OH, Los Alamitos, CA
#4Matt Davis, 6-4, 195, Sr., L, Encinitas, CA

2000 MPSF Tournament Schedule

Quarterfinals - Saturday, April 22
Loyola Marymount (8) at Long Beach St. (1), 7:30 p.m.
Stanford (7) at Pepperdine (2), 7 p.m.
Hawai'i (6) at USC (3), 7 p.m.
BYU (5) at UCLA (4), 7 p.m.

Semifinals - Thurs., April 27*
LMU-LBS winner vs. UCLA-BYU winner
UH-USC winner vs. Stanford-Pepperdine winner

Finals - Sat., Apr. 29*
Semifinal winners

*To be hosted at the site of the highest remaining seed after the quarterfinals.