Stanford’s Instinct Pays Off for Crown

COLUMBUS, Ohio — UCLA, of all teams, was teetering while Stanford’s Matt Fuerbringer was leaning.

Fuerbringer followed his instincts to shadow UCLA’s Paul Nihipali and it paid off in Stanford’s wild 3-2 upset of the two-time defending champion Bruins on Saturday for the NCAA men’s volleyball championship.

With Stanford on top, 14-13, Fuerbringer checked where Nihipali was on the floor because the UCLA standout had just netted a serve.

“I didn’t want to give anything away, I didn’t want to commit,” Fuerbringer said. “But I was leaning that way.”

When Nihipali went for the kill, Fuerbringer blocked the ball to give top-seeded Stanford a dramatic, 15-13, victory in the deciding fifth game.

“I got all of that one,” Fuerbringer said of the battle of first-team All-Americans.

The top-seeded Cardinal (27-3) won the first two games 15-7 and 15-10, knocking the 16-time national champion Bruins on their heels. But UCLA fought back with 15-9 and 15-6 victories.

Stanford had defeated the Bruins, 3-0, a week ago to win the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation tournament.

After Thursday night’s semifinals, Andy Witt had said he came to Stanford to beat UCLA in a national championship game.

“It’s not really a rivalry. It’s over and done with,” Witt said after the title game. “We’ll all be hanging at the beach this summer.”

But tournament most valuable player Mike Lambert added, “Yeah, but we’ve got bragging rights.”

The Bruins (24-5) were seeking a record 17th national title for Coach Al Scates. With 16 titles, he remains tied with Houston men’s golf Coach Dave Williams for the most by a coach in NCAA competition.

“We can’t win all the time,” Scates said, “but it’s a bitter pill to swallow to come this close.”

Stanford appeared to be well on its way to a repeat of last week’s lopsided victory over the Bruins. But then UCLA turned things around.

“UCLA seemed to really get a bead on us as the match wore on,” Stanford Coach Ruben Nieves said.

The teams traded rallies and points in the fifth game until a Lambert kill pulled Stanford even, 13-13. Nihipali’s low serve to the right side caught the net, allowing the Cardinal’s Stewart Chong to serve for match point.

On the final point, Nihipali went high for the kill, but Fuerbringer batted it back.