Post by bigfan on May 5, 2006 10:23:14 GMT -5
UCLA's Damian Scott celebrates the game-winning point with his teammates after they defeated PFW in their NCAA men's volleyball championship semifinal match, 3-0.
Bruins one away from the title
UCLA defeats IPFW to advance to NCAA Championship match against Penn State
By Michael Wozny
DAILY BRUIN REPORTER
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The UCLA men's volleyball team so thoroughly dominated its competition Thursday night that NCAA officials tested the players for performance-enhancing drugs.
Redshirt senior Damien Scott, redshirt junior Paul George and freshman Ian Jackson were randomly chosen in the first steroids test the NCAA has done for men's volleyball in four years.
But the Bruins had only adrenaline running through their veins as they swept Indiana-Purdue Fort Wayne 3-0 in the NCAA semifinals at Pennsylvania State.
UCLA is scheduled to next face Penn State, which scored an improbable victory over No. 1 seed UC Irvine in the second match of the evening during the NCAA finals Saturday.
After a year of struggles, the Bruins (25-12) are finally in a position to win the national championship that eluded them last season, which ended in a title-game loss to Pepperdine at Pauley Pavilion.
Though the Bruins are in the same position as they were last year, the road to the title match has been quite different.
"We've never brought a team to the NCAA Tournament with such a poor record, but this team has completely reinvented itself and turned everything around," UCLA coach Al Scates said. "This team has worked harder to get here than some of the teams in the past, and they've never lost confidence and always kept their goal in mind of winning the NCAA Championship."
After the departure of six of the seven starters from last year's NCAA finals, the Bruins started this season poorly, compiling a 12-12 record.
UCLA has won 13 straight matches since then, capturing the MPSF Tournament's automatic spot in the NCAA Tournament.
With all the momentum in their favor, the Bruins rolled through IPFW, 30-25, 30-23, 30-28.
With an undefeated, 22-0 record in NCAA semifinal matches, the Bruins were favored to win after playing as the underdogs for much of the season.
IPFW still put up a strong fight, determined not to let their season slip away.
"IPFW really never quit," Scates said. "They came back after being down in the third game and showed a lot of fight and spirit. It was very good competition for us."
After losing the first game in three of their past four matches, the Bruins made sure they wouldn't make the mistake of starting slowly by jumping out to a 11-7 lead in Game 1.
The early lead failed to last, as the Matadors responded with four-straight points to tie it at 11-11. The teams traded points until 16-16, when the Bruins got an advantage that only increased as they took the first game 30-25.
Their momentum carried over, cruising to a Game 2 victory by hitting .321 and holding IPFW to .154.
"(Setter Dennis) Gonzalez was completely setting away from the middle early in the second game, but I reminded him to move the ball around a little bit more because he was becoming predictable," Scates said. "He changed (his play), and we came back to win."
The Matadors held UCLA to a .262 hitting percentage in Game 3 but only hit .265 themselves and never took a lead.
The crowd composed mainly of Penn State fans began cheering for IPFW late in the game, and the Matadors came back from a seven-point deficit at 18-11 to close the gap to 20-17. But the Bruins closed out the match strong, defeating IPFW and advancing to the finals on Scott's 10th kill of the night.
"(IPFW) is a good blocking team, but we were down there and ready every time," sophomore libero Tony Ker said. "We worked hard the whole time and didn't let balls drop."
The biggest factor in the win last night was the Bruins' offensive balance.
Gonzalez tried to spread his 40 set assists around the court as much as possible to get around the strong Matador blocking presence.
His strategy worked, as all five starting hitters for the Bruins had at least seven kills and no player tallied more than 14.
The Bruins will now be facing Penn State on its home court for the national championship.
If the play of the Bruins over the last few weeks is any indication, they do not mind being considered the underdogs.
"I'm never surprised at UCLA to be playing for the national title because that is the reason we came here," junior opposite Steve Klosterman said. "We've prepared ourselves all year. It's hard work and determination that got us here and all the guys really want it."