PEPPERDINE WINS TITLE WAVES OUTLAST BRUINS IN NCAA SHOWDOWN PEPPERDINE 3, UCLA 2.Byline: Rich Hammond Rich Hammond Los Angeles Daily News sports writer. Instrumental in bringing the Los Angeles Kings hockey organization closer to the fans. He is the atypical "what a guy" to Kings fans everywhere. Rich Hammond on himself. Staff Writer A bit of a role reversal In psychodrama, role reversal is a technique where the protagonist is asked, by the psychodrama director, to exchange roles with another person (an auxiliary ego) on the psychodrama stage. The former assumes as many of the roles of the other as possible and vice versa. took place going into Saturday's NCAA men's volleyball championship The NCAA Men's Volleyball Championship is the tournament that determines the national championship of American college volleyball. The competition structure of men's volleyball is dramatically different from that of most sports sponsored by the NCAA. match. UCLA UCLA University of California at Los Angeles UCLA University Center for Learning Assistance (Illinois State University) UCLA University of Carrollton, TX and Lower Addison, TX had claimed five titles since 1992, the year Pepperdine last won, but UCLA didn't have a player on its roster with any NCAA Tournament NCAA Tournament can mean: Men's Sports
The Bruins hadn't made the tournament since 2001; the Waves had been there two of the last three seasons. In the end, Pepperdine's experience was just enough to give the Waves their fifth national title, as they outlasted the Bruins for a 30-23, 23-30, 24-30, 30-25, 15-10 victory at Pauley Pavilion Edwin W. Pauley Pavilion, informally and commonly known as Pauley Pavilion, is an indoor arena located on the campus of UCLA in Los Angeles, California. It is home to the UCLA Bruins men's and women's basketball teams. The men's and women's volleyball teams also play here. . Pepperdine's Sean Rooney, the national player of the year, had been neutralized neu·tral·ize tr.v. neu·tral·ized, neu·tral·iz·ing, neu·tral·iz·es 1. To make neutral. 2. To counterbalance or counteract the effect of; render ineffective. 3. for much of the match but came through with seven kills in the fourth game as the Waves stayed alive. UCLA got a huge effort from senior hitter Jonathan Acosta, who through four games had 26 kills and a hitting percentage of .639. It's hard to beat a team that plays a near-perfect game, and that's essentially what Pepperdine did in the first game. The Waves committed their only hitting error of the game when they had already built a 15-10 lead, and that advantage, along with solid passing against tough UCLA serving, was more than enough. Neither team had more than a three-point run in the first game, but the Waves took an 8-4 lead and never trailed. A long serve by UCLA's Aaron Dodd gave Pepperdine a 27-22 lead, and moments later Rooney and Tom Hulse combined on a huge block to set up game point. Rooney spiked a poor service return by the Bruins to give the game to the Waves. Pepperdine had a hitting percentage of .531 and took advantage of seven UCLA hitting errors. Pepperdine had a chance to take control of the match with a strong start to the second game, but the Waves' passing turned uncharacteristically un·char·ac·ter·is·tic adj. Unusual or atypical: an uncharacteristic display of anger. un sloppy, and the Bruins took advantage. The second game mirrored the first, except that it was the Bruins who took a slim advantage at the start, going ahead 8-5, and carried it deep into the game. Pepperdine closed to within 16-15 at one point, but that's when the Bruins took control of the game with a four- point run that included two lift calls on Pepperdine and a service error by the Waves. The Waves rallied again and made the score 23-21, but the Bruins closed out the game by winning five of the last six points. Pepperdine's Jon Grobe served into the net to even the match at one game each. UCLA's serving, which had been a strength in the first two games, became a weapon in the third. UCLA overcame three Pepperdine blocks early in the game and held a slim lead throughout. With the game tied 18-18, the Bruins scored five of the next six points to take a 23-19 lead, and two Pepperdine hitting errors helped set up game point, which Steve Klosterman got with an ace. Rich Hammond, (818) 713-3611 rich.hammond(at)dailynews.com CAPTION(S): photo Photo: Andy Hein (3) celebrates after Pepperdine scores a point in their NCAA NCAA abbr. National Collegiate Athletic Association championship match with UCLA. Mark J. Terrill/Associated Press |
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