By Daniel Miller
Daily Bruin Contributor
One look at the box score for the men’s volleyball
team’s final match in the UC Irvine/Wyndham West Coast
Challenge reveals why UCLA lost 3-0 (30-27, 30-26 and 30-27) to
Pepperdine Saturday night at Crawford Hall:
Pepperdine ““ eight service aces, 10 service errors. UCLA
““ one service ace, nine service errors.
The combination of the Waves’ excellent service game and
the Bruins’ inability to come up with many service aces led
to UCLA’s defeat.
“Pepperdine’s eight aces was the difference in the
match,” UCLA head coach Al Scates said. “Everything
else was equal in the match, but they had a very strong service
game that we could not handle.”
The Bruins defeated UCI 3-0 Friday and USC 3-1 in the first part
of their doubleheader Saturday to finish with a 2-1 record in the
tournament ““ equaling Pepperdine’s and Irvine’s
tournament records. USC did not win a match in the round robin
competition.
“We played great against USC and Irvine,” Scates
said. “Irvine came out very strong but could not stop us. I
was surprised at how well we hit against those two teams, and I was
also surprised that we did not pass as well.”
Scates said the Bruins are normally a good passing team and will
sharpen that aspect of their game with practice.
Against the Waves, sophomore middle blocker Chris Peña had
a team-leading 11 kills, a hitting percentage of .409 and three
block assists. Junior middle blocker Scott Morrow had 10 kills, a
team-leading hitting percentage of .692, and three block assists.
Freshman outside hitter Jonathan Acosta had nine kills.
“While we played well in the first two matches, there is a
lot we can work on,” Acosta said. “Our loss to
Pepperdine made it clear that we have to practice our reception of
serves.”
Pepperdine head coach Marv Dunphy said his team played fairly
well, and noted that “UCLA did not play as well as it could
have.”
Bruin freshman outside hitter David Russell played for the first
time in two weeks since spraining his ankle in practice and
impressed Scates with his six kills and two block assists.
“Russell only practiced two days in the last two weeks, so
he may have been a little hesitant, but he played very well,”
he said. “We did not use him until the Pepperdine match
because we thought the Waves would be the strongest opponent and we
would need him against them.”
The Bruins beat Irvine 30-28, 30-25 and 30-27. Junior outside
hitter Cameron Mount led the team with 15 kills and had a hitting
percentage .545. Morrow had a team-leading six block assists.
“We hit very well against Irvine and USC,” Mount
said. “It was good to see what our potential is in that area
of play.”
Scates said Mount had two great matches against Irvine and
USC””mdash;as he posted 16 kills against the Trojans. Acosta lead
the Bruins with 19 kills as the Bruins defeated USC 30-25, 30-22,
25-30, 30-19.