UCLA
UC Santa Barbara
Bruins Edge Gauchos, 3-2, in Men's Volleyball
February 19, 2000 | Men's Volleyball
Feb. 19, 2000
Fourth-ranked UCLA edged No.15 UC Santa Barbara 3-2 in men's volleyball Saturday night to remain in the chase for the MPSF race
The Bruins (12-3, 6-3) won 17-16, 13-15, 15-11, 10-15, 15-10 before 543 fans in two hours, twenty-eight minutes at the John Wooden Center.
The victory gave the Bruins a 6-3 MPSF record, one game behind BYU for second place in the Mountain Division. The Bruins and Cougars meet Mar. 1 & 2 in Pauley Pavilion.
In Game 1 the Bruins battled back from deficits of 6-1 and 9-3 to tie the score at 10. But the Gauchos (4-5, 3-5) moved ahead 13-10 on kills by Brian Nordberg and Jan Carlo Zegarra. UCLA scored the next four points on kills by Seth Burnham and Ed Ratedlege only to see the Gauchos take a 15-14 lead on a UCLA hitting error and another kill by Nordberg. UCLA moved ahead 16-15 on two UCSB attack errors, but an attack error by Matt Komer tied it at 16-16. Finally, the Bruins won on a bad set by UCSB's Keith Busam.
In Game 2, the Bruins sprinted to leads of 8-1 and 12-7 before the Gauchos came storming back to tie it at 13-13. An ace and a kill by Kevin Collins gave the Gauchos the game.
The Bruins held their biggest lead in Game 3 when Matt Komer blocked his brother Chris for a 6-2 lead. Although UCSB closed to within one at 8-7, it never led as the Bruins got a timely ace from junior Mark Williams, a kill from Burnham and three straight UCSB hitting errors. The game ended when Zegarra committed an attack error and Burnham spiked a kill.
The Gauchos won Game 4 on two blocks by Andy Tomkinson. They had taken the lead after breaking a 6-6 tie on a kill and an ace by Collins.
In the final game, the Bruins rallied from several two-point deficits to take the lead for good on a block by Burnham and Ratledge. With Collins serving at 10-14, Williams spiked his 29th kill to end it.
Ratledge, who pounded 13 kills in Game 1, ended with 33 for the night to lead UCLA. Williams added 29 kills, a season high, plus five blocks and six digs. Freshman Scott Morrow added 16 kills along with Burnham, and Morrow led UCLA with six blocks.
Collins led UCSB with 35 kills, followed by Chris Komer, who added 20 kills and eight blocks.
The Bruins next match is Sat., Feb. 26 at UC Irvine at 7 p.m.
