UCLA
Pepperdine
Bruins Beat Waves in Men's Volleyball
April 09, 2000 | Men's Volleyball
April 9, 2000
The second-ranked UCLA men's volleyball team avenged an early season loss to Pepperdine by defeating the No. 1 ranked Waves, 3-1, Saturday in Pauley Pavilion.
The Bruins (23-4, 13-4) won 15-9, 12-15, 15-13, 16-14 in front of 2,269 spectators in two hours and 41 minutes. The victory was payback for a 3-2 loss on Feb. 10 at Pepperdine.
In Game 1, the Bruins broke a 5-5 tie to score 10 of the final 14 points. Freshman Scott Morrow recorded three blocks and one kill and served two points during the run to give UCLA the upper hand. Senior Seth Burnham's ace gave the Bruins a 14-9 lead and a block by senior Brandon Taliaferro and Morrow gave them the game.
Game 2 was a seesaw battle until the Bruins self destructed after Pepperdine (18-4, 14-3) tied the score at 12-12. With junior All-American Scott Wong serving, the Waves scored three unanswered points on a pair of hitting errors by UCLA sophomore Matt Komer and a kill by Pepperdine senior Andre Breuer.
The Bruins took a commanding 12-6 lead in Game 3 when Burnham served four straight points, including an ace, and Taliaferro served two points, including an ace. But the Waves rallied by forcing side-outs and serving tough. Junior Keith Barnett aced the Bruins to make it 9-12 and Wong added one of his own to cut the Bruins' lead to 12-11. The Waves tied it on a hitting error by Taliaferro and took the lead on a block by Wong and freshman Brad Keenan. Senior Evan Thatcher got the side-out that put Taliaferro on the serving line with UCLA trailing 13-12. Taliaferro's first serve forced a long spike by Wong. Next, he aced the Waves to give the Bruins a 14-13 lead, and his third serve set up the winning block by Burnham and Thatcher.
Pepperdine took an 8-4 lead in Game 4 after two UCLA hitting errors and a blocking error by Burnham. The Bruins managed to cut that lead to 8-7 on three unforced hitting errors by the Waves. Pepperdine managed to pull away again to 13-9 on a block by Wong and Keenan and hitting errors by Komer and freshman Cameron Mount of UCLA. The Bruins closed to 13-12 on a Thatcher-Burnham block, and a setting mistake by the Waves. A service error by Taliaferro gave the Waves a side-out. Then Keenan served an ace to give Pep a 14-12 lead. The Bruins got a side-out on a block by Mount and Burnham, and then got a point on another bad set. With Pepperdine ahead 14-13, the two teams traded six side-outs before Morrow gave the Bruins the serve. A key non-call on a questionable set by UCLA's Thatcher left the Waves momentarily stunned while Mount ripped a kill over an open net to tie the score at 14-14. The Bruins took a 15-14 lead on another kill by Morrow before the Waves earned a side-out. Two consecutive unforced attack errors by Barnett gave UCLA the game and the match.
Thatcher led UCLA with 21 kills, followed by Komer with 18. Junior Mark Williams recorded 16 kills and 16 digs. Morrow added 13 kills and a career high of 12 blocks to lead both teams. Taliaferro recorded six kills, 13 digs, three blocks and two aces.
Breuer and Wong led Pepperdine with 20 kills each, followed by 19 from Barnett. Breuer also added seven blocks.
