UCLA has no problem handling Anteaters

Published: Friday, February 27, 1998

Friday, February 27, 1998

VOLLEYBALL: Victorious team able to maintain intense play versus UCI

By Grace Wen

Daily Bruin Staff

UC Irvine may be having the best season in its school history, but so is UCLA.

The top-ranked UCLA men's volleyball team continued its winning tear, demolishing the Anteaters 15-5, 15-6, 15-6 in less than an hour and a half. The Bruins are making it a regular practice to send opponents packing before their buses have cooled.

"I thought we played well," UCLA head coach Al Scates said. "I thought we had five players playing well."

Actually, they only needed one.

Setter Brandon Taliaferro came out on fire. The sophomore served six of UCLA's seven aces and posted six kills in seven attempts for a whopping .857 clip. And he also tallied 45 assists.

In game one, the Bruins capitalized on serving and hitting errors by the Anteaters to score the first five points of the match. UCLA didn't need any help the rest of the game as every point after came from a UCLA kill or block. The Bruins could do no wrong as hitter after hitter found the open court.

The Anteaters, however, came alive in game two jumping out to a 5-3 lead. The lead would evaporate as Irvine self-destructed. The Anteaters were blocked twice, aced twice, had a hitting error and were called out of rotation. The string of Irvine errors brought the score to 9-6 and any momentum the Anteaters had was lost.

Game three began slowly for both teams. After 17 sideouts, the score was only 1-1. An Adam Naeve block would start a 9-4 run that ended any hopes Irvine might have had of taking a game off the Bruins.

"I think with a team like that, who's having success for the first time like they are right now, when they play UCLA or top teams, they get a little nervous and they kind of hold back," Taliaferro said.

Irvine head coach Charlie Brande agreed.

"I think at times we played with heart and battled them pretty well," Brande said. "I'm proud of the way we played some of the time.

"Great team that UCLA has. Tremendous focus, they can stay at the same emotional level for a long period of time."

The Bruins will look to continue its winning ways on Saturday night as it hosts No. 12 Lewis University in a non-conference match.

Last year, Lewis almost stole a win as it took UCLA right down to the wire. In a game that took over three hours to play, the Bruins barely edged out the Flyers, 24-22, in the pivotal fifth game.