January 31, 1999

LOS ANGELES - Defending NCAA champion UCLA endured a scare from unranked Loyola Marymount before outlasting the Lions, 3-2 at the John Wooden Center on Saturday in front of a rowdy crowd of 736.

The Bruins (4-2, 2-1) outlasted the Lions (1-4, 0-3), 15-9, 15-5, 9-15, 14-16, 17-15 in two hours and 46 minutes. UCLA extended its winning streak over LMU to 57 matches.

The Bruins completely dominated the first two games, outblocking the Lions, 17-0 and outhitting them .563 to .188. Senior Danny Farmer was hitting .737 (14-0-19) entering the third game.

But three attack errors by UCLA and a kill by LMU's Robert Priddy gave the Lions an early 4-0 lead in Game 3. LMU's good ball control, digging and sideout offense wore on the Bruins' patience and the visitors managed to snatch Game 3, 15-9. In that game, LMU hit .490 to UCLA's .310 and outdug the hosts 17-12.

The Bruins let a 14-13 lead slip away in Game 4 on an ace by LMU's Robert Schildts, a hitting error by UCLA's Adam Naeve and a kill by Priddy.

In the rally scoring fifth game, the Bruins rallied from an early 4-1 deficit and tied the game 6-6 on a Lions' hitting error. LMU took leads of 8-6, 9-7 and 10-8 before the Bruins tied the game again at 11-11 on a kill by Naeve, who led all players with 33 kills. The Bruins then took leads of 13-11 and 14-12, but two kills by LMU's Jason Lee and a UCLA hitting error gave the Lions match piont at 15-14. A block gave the Bruins the serve at 15-15 and two blocks by sophomore Mark Williams and Naeve gave the Bruins the winning edge.

The Bruins posted a season best 27 team blocks, including a career high 18 block assists by Naeve and 10 by setter Brandon Taliaferro. Senior Danny Farmer spiked a career high 27 kills and blocked nine balls, also a career best.

Priddy led LMU with 32 kills, followed by Tim Farmer's 22.

The Bruins' next match will be against CS Northridge at 7 p.m. in Pauley Pavilion on Wed., Feb. 3.