Waves Go Flat and Lose to Bruins

In this strange, wide-open men’s volleyball season, no team has been more unpredictable than UCLA.

The Bruins have been as good as they have been bad, suffering head-scratching losses to Loyola Marymount and Cal State Northridge, but defeating most of the top teams in the nation.

On Saturday night, they looked as good as ever, defeating Pepperdine, 15-9, 12-15, 15-13, 16-14 in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation match at UCLA.

Evan Thatcher had 21 kills and the Bruins (23-5, 13-4 in MPSF play) overcame late deficits in the third and fourth games.

Scott Wong and Andre Breuer each had 20 kills for Pepperdine (18-4, 14-3), ranked No. 1 in the nation, and one of many teams to have held the precarious top spot.

A match against UCLA always means something to two Pepperdine starters--Wong, whose brother, Kevin was a second-team All-American for the Bruins, and setter Kurt Nelson, who transferred from UCLA after his freshman season.

Wong and Nelson got the upper hand in February, when the Waves defeated UCLA in five games, but this time there was no celebration.

Wong said the Waves’ passing did them in.

“I was kind of disappointed in that,” he said. “I think that was the low part of our game.”

All-American setter Brandon Taliaferro had 70 assists and five kills for UCLA, ranked No. 4, despite playing with a viral infection.

The victory over Pepperdine cured the Bruins’ ails. They lost to Loyola Marymount on Wednesday for the first time in school history.

“We had to make sure everybody still respects us,” Taliaferro said. “It’s good to get our confidence back.”

UCLA overturned a 13-12 deficit in the third game and a 14-12 deficit in the fourth game.

The Waves had a chance to assert themselves in the battle for home-court advantage throughout the MPSF tournament. Now, they’ll need some help.

They trail Long Beach State (22-3, 15-2) by a match with two left to play. Long Beach State, which hosts UCLA and plays at USC, owns the tiebreaker over Pepperdine because of a five-game victory over the Waves last month.

The Waves’ final two regular-season matches are next week at Loyola Marymount and at UC Irvine, teams with losing MPSF records.

“I’ve always thought the playoffs were going to come down to a match that was played on April 15,” said Coach Jeff Stork of Pepperdine. “It’s wide open. Long Beach is probably favored right now, but they still have to play UCLA and USC.”

Keith Barnett, who lost his starting job to Chris Van Reusen last month, replaced Van Reusen early in the second game and provided a spark for Pepperdine, finishing with 19 kills.