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Bruins and Lions in Happy Valley ...

By Nestor

I fully admit I don't really follow college volleyball. But I do know our coach Al Scates has a program which has dominated this sport just like the Coach did his back in 60s and 70s. Volleyball is a UCLA sport. We dominate it. We own it. Sure we stumble every now and then ... but so do the Yankees. It's no big deal. Al Scates is the Volleyball Wizard of Westwood. We are in the Championship match today taking on (apparently) a pretty solid PSU team in Happy Valley. Here is the LA Times:

UCLA has won 13 matches in a row, but if the hottest men's volleyball team in the country is to win a 19th NCAA title today, it must do so on its opponent's home floor.

The second-seeded Bruins will be facing tournament host Penn State, whose fourth-seeded Nittany Lions on Thursday upset No. 1 UC Irvine, 32-30, 30-23, 31-33, 27-30, 15-13, in the Division I semifinals.

"It's worth a lot against some opponents, it's not worth much against us," Bruin Coach Al Scates said of an opponent's home-court advantage. "We play some of our best matches against large crowds rooting for the opposition.

"We just beat [second-ranked] Hawaii when they had 6,000 fans and we had 20. We're going to have at least four times that amount against Penn State."

The championship match, which starts at 4 p.m. PDT, will be broadcast live on ESPN2.

Here is the coverage from the Daily Bruin. BTW ... if anyone of you are in Happy Valley today and are reading this blog, enjoy the place. It's pretty fun. I went out there for a college football game (Michigan at PSU) in 2001. It was pretty awesome. Nice little college town with some fun bars. Perhaps one of these days UCLA will schedule a home and home (either in hoops or football) with the Nittney Lions, and I am sure we will get few thousdand Bruins from the Boston, NY, DC, and the Eastern Seabord congregating for roadie just like we did for Alabama back in 2001. Could be a blast.

Anways, good luke to the boys in Blue and Gold. Let's hope they can bring home another banner for this dominant program:


ANDREW SHIMABUKU/honolulu advertiser

If any of you are watching the MATCH on ESPN2, comment away. This is our championship thread.

Side out UCLA.

GO BRUINS.

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