Stanford Denies Scates

For Al Scates, the 31-year veteran coach of the top-ranked UCLA men’s volleyball team, victory No. 800 will have to wait for another day.

It did not come on Friday night, when third-ranked Stanford upset top-ranked UCLA, 5-15, 11-15, 15-13, 15-6, 15-13, in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation match at Pauley Pavilion.

Scates is 799-129 in his UCLA career.

UCLA (12-2 overall, 8-2 in federation) won the first two games before Stanford (9-3, 8-2) took control of the match.

With the Bruins trailing, 14-12, in the fifth (rally-scoring) game, UCLA’s Erik Sullivan hit a ball through the block of Joe Burghardt and Canyon Ceman to bring the Bruins to within one point.

But Bob Hillman, Stanford’s junior middle blocker, hit one off the arm of 6-foot-9 Tim Kelly of UCLA and Stanford won the match.

Dave Goss, a senior opposite hitter, led Stanford with a match-high 41 kills. Goss has enjoyed outstanding performances against UCLA. Last season, Goss set an NCAA record with 55 kills to lead the Cardinal to a victory at Pauley Pavilion.

Mike Diehl, a senior starting only his fourth game this season, led UCLA with a career-high 36 kills.

UCLA’s Kevin Wong, a sophomore swing hitter, set a school record with six service aces. The Bruins also had a season-high 27 service errors in the match, including five in the fifth game.

Wong had five service aces in the first game.

Stanford led, 4-3, in the first game, but UCLA scored the next 10 points. Wong sealed the game with two consecutive service aces.

UCLA let a four-point lead slip away in the second game. Then, with UCLA leading, 12-11, Wong hit another service ace and Goss hit one ball wide before Diehl capped the game with a cross-court kill.

Stanford jumped to a 5-0 lead in the third game. UCLA struggled through the game but gained momentum on a 5-0 scoring run to tie the score, 13-13. But the Cardinal stopped the Bruins there and scored the next two points on a kill by Bob Hillman and a block by Ceman and Burghardt.

UCLA never gained any momentum in the fourth game, which Ceman capped with a service ace to force the fifth game.

UCLA’s other loss this season was to Pepperdine on Feb. 25.