Bruins Earn 22nd Berth Into NCAA Championships

Bruins Earn 22nd Berth Into NCAA Championships

May. 1, 2000

2000 NCAA Men's Volleyball Championships at Ft. Wayne, IN:

May 4

NCAA Semifinals
#1 UCLA vs. #4 Penn State
(20-13), 5:30 p.m., CDT (3:30 p.m. PDT)
#2 Pepperdine (22-5) vs. #3 Ohio State (24-3), 8 p.m., CDT
(6 p.m. PDT)

May 6

NCAA Championship
Semifinal winners, 1 p.m., CDT
(11 a.m. PDT)

Recent Results at MPSF Tournament

Apr. 27UCLA d. LMU, 3-1 (semifinals)
Apr. 29UCLA d. Pepperdine, 3-1 (championship)

Probable Bruin Starters:

#1Seth Burnham, 6-7, Sr., Q, Santa Cruz, CAOR
#18Greg Coon, 6-4, Fr., 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, CAOR
#25Matt Komer, 6-7, So., OH, Los Alamitos, CA
#4Matt Davis, 6-4, 195, Sr., L, Encinitas, CA

Upcoming Matches -- Top-seeded UCLA (27-5) vs. #4 seed Penn State (20-13) at 5:30 p.m. (CDT) in the semifinals of the 2000 NCAA Men's Volleyball Championship, May 4 at Ft. Wayne, IN. Second-seeded Pepperdine (22-5) meets #3 seed Ohio State (24-3) at 8 p.m. (CDT) in the second semifinal. The NCAA championship match will be played on Sat., May 6 at 1 p.m. (CDT).

Television & Internet Broadcasts -- UCLA's semifinal match vs. Penn State will be aired live over broadcast.com on May 4. ESPN2 will televise the match later that evening beginning at 9:30 p.m. (PDT). The second semifinal will be televised on ESPN2 at 11:59 p.m. (PDT).

The championship match on Sat., May 6 will be televised live on ESPN2 beginning at 11 a.m. (PDT). Broadcast.com will air its broadcast of the championship match live if UCLA is participating.

UCLA's NCAA Championship History -- UCLA owns 17 NCAA championships in men's volleyball. The Bruins also boast a record of 46-5 (.901) in NCAA post-season matches. In the current four-team format, the Bruins are 18-0 in NCAA semifinal matches and 29-1 in all semifinals and round-robin matches. In championship matches, the Bruins are 17-4.

Against the field in NCAA post-season play, the Bruins are:

  • 4-1 vs. Penn State (2-1 in the finals and 2-0 in the semifinals), last winning 3-0 in the 1997 semifinals,
  • 4-1 vs. Pepperdine, all in the finals, including three straight, last winning 3-0 in 1998,
  • 6-0 vs. Ohio State, all in the semifinals. Last won 3-0 in 1993.

Noting the Opponents -- The Bruins defeated Penn State, 3-1, on Jan. 26 in the first match of the Outrigger Hotels Invitational in Honolulu, HI. Since losing 3-1 to the Nittany Lions on Jan. 23, 1997, the Bruins have won four straight against PSU. UCLA leads the series 15-5 and has won seven of the last eight. In the January 26 match, UCLA out-hit PSU .422-287, outblocked them 14.5-9.5 and served 10 aces. Freshman Cameron Mount led the Bruins with 23 kills and senior Brandon Taliaferro led the team with eight blocks (three solos), five aces and nine digs. The Bruins defeated Pepperdine, 3-1, on Sat., Apr. 30 to win the MPSF Tournament Championship and earn the automatic berth into the NCAA Championships. After dropping the first game 6-15, the Bruins rallied to win the next three, 15-11, 15-4, 15-9. In Game 2, UCLA took a 6-0 lead only to watch the Waves score 11 of the next 12 points to take an 11-7 lead. Then the Bruins scored the next eight points to win the game. In the next two games, the Bruins managed to keep Pepperdine at bay by dominating the net. They out-blocked the Waves 21-14 and out-hit them .322-.234. As it has most of the season, the Bruins bench was pivotal in this victory. Senior Ed Ratledge entered the match midway through Game 1 and finished with 27 kills to lead the team. He also accounted for seven total blocks (two solos) and nine digs. Freshman Greg Coon also contributed an ace and two blocks in Game 3 while relieving senior starter Seth Burnham. Among the starters, junior Mark Williams slammed 17 kills (.378) and served a pair of aces, while freshman Scott Morrow added 10 kills and a team-leading nine blocks. Sophomore Matt Komer recorded 11 kills, two aces, seven digs and three blocks. The Bruins have not played Ohio State this season, but they have not lost to the Buckeyes in 11 matches.

UCLA Head Coach Al Scates -- He is in his 38th campaign with an overall record of 993-158 (.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.

Player Notes

  • Against BYU (3/1), senior Seth Burnham recorded a career high of 21 kills and 10 blocks. His career high of 12 blocks was recorded vs. LBS (1/7). Against LMU (4/27), he recorded 10 blocks, 14 kills and an ace. He 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 14th nationally (1.55).
  • Senior All-America setter Brandon Taliaferro was named an AVCA First Team All-America on Apr. 25 for the third straight season. He also was voted to the All-MPSF First Team for the fourth straight year. He earned AVCA National Player of the Week on March 6 after leading the Bruins to victories over BYU and Lewis. In the MPSF Championship against Pepperdine, he recorded 10 kills, an ace, 11 digs, 69 set assists and six blocks.
  • He became the Bruins career set assists leader with 78 against Stanford. Taliaferro now has 6,722 career set assists after recording 69 against Pepperdine (4/30). He ranks third on the AVCA all-time assists chart. Last week, he ranked seventh nationally (18.02) and he finished the conference season ranked seventh (18.73).
  • Taliaferro is UCLA's career ace leader with 169. Last week, he ranked third nationally (.565). Against Hawaii (3/18) he served all five of UCLA's aces and served seven straight points to finish Game 3. He ranks in a tie for fifth all-time in the AVCA record books in total aces with Lloy Ball, formerly of IPFW.
  • 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 820. His season high for digs is 16 set against USC Feb. 4. He has recorded 16 double-digit dig matches in the 24 matches in which he has played. He ranked 11th nationally last week (2.64) and seventh in league (2.59).
  • Senior Matt Davis, who earned First-Team All-MPSF honors at libero, is UCLA's single season digs leader with 350 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 fourth nationally in dig average (3.06) and finished the league season ranked first (3.15).
  • Junior Mark Williams aced USC and BYU (4/22) six times, tying the school record. For the season he leads the Bruins with 57 aces, a single season school record. His 107 career aces ranks in a tie for sixth with Kevin Wong (1992-95) on UCLA's career aces chart. Last week, he ranked 11th nationally (.477) and finished the league season ranked in a tie for seventh (.400). He was voted to the All-MPSF Third Team.
  • 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). In the first round playoff match against BYU, he spiked 17 kills for a percentage of .519. In his last four matches he has 57 kills and is hitting .401 with 10 aces.
  • Senior Evan Thatcher pounded his 1,000th career kill vs. BYU (4/22). He now has 1,042 career kills, seventh on the all-time UCLA list. He needs six kills to surpass Tom Stillwell (1995-98) for sixth place. His 26 kills vs. BYU last week was a season high. He spiked 24 vs. Long Beach State (1/7), 23 vs. Stanford (1/22) and has hit for 21 kills five times.
  • Freshman Scott Morrow earned Third Team All-MPSF honors in his first season as a starter. He 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 seven 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), LMU (4/27) and Pepperdine (4/29). Against Pepperdine (2/10) he blocked nine balls, including a career best four solos. In the MPSF Championship against the Waves, he recorded 10 kills (.471) and nine blocks. In blocking, he ranked fifth nationally last week (1.90) and finished the league season ranked third (2.05). In hitting percentage, he ranked in a tie for 18th nationally (.423) last week and finished seventh in league (.449).
  • 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 and 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.
  • Freshman Cameron Mount has recorded eight double-digit kill matches this season, but played a key role against LMU in the MPSF semifinals. He came off the bench in Game 4 and spiked seven kills with no errors in eight attempts (.875) and added two digs and two blocks to spark the Bruins. He led the Bruins with 22 kills (.633) vs. CS Northridge (3/31) and added five digs, four blocks and two aces. He also recorded his career high of 23 kills (.486) and nine digs and added three blocks vs. Penn State (1/26). He recorded a career high of six blocks vs. Hawaii (3/18).
  • 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. Against Pepperdine (4/29), he recorded a kill, an ace and two blocks in relief of Seth Burnham. He is now averaging 1.57bpg .
  • 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 5.1kpg. He also served the final two points against BYU (4/22). Against LMU (4/27), he came off the bench and slammed 11 kills, including eight in Game 4 plus an ace. He led the Bruins with 27 kills (.380) off the bench against Pepperdine in the MPSF Championship and also added nine digs and a career high of seven blocks.
  • 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 Pepperdine (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. He slammed 11 kills (.292) in a reserve role against BYU (4/22). Against LMU (4/27), he was the Bruins kill leader with 15 and also added six blocks. He recorded 11 kills (.333), seven digs, two aces (career high) and three blocks against Pepperdine (4/29).

The 2000 Season

  • On Apr. 30, the Bruins earned their 22nd berth into the NCAA Championships by defeating Pepperdine, 3-1, for the MPSF Tournament Championship.
  • On Apr. 27, the Bruins outlasted upstart Loyola Marymount, 3-1, to advance to the MPSF Tournament Championship against second-seeded Pepperdine.
  • On Apr. 22, the Bruins swept defending conference and NCAA champion BYU in the MPSF quarterfinals before 1,018 fans in Pauley Pavilion.
  • On Apr. 14, the Bruins defeated UC Irvine, 3-0, in Pauley Pavilion to win their final regular season match and secure the No. 4 seed in the MPSF Tournament.
  • 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.
  • 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.