So near, yet, so far

[Ravi Narasimhan]

Dear r.s.v.-ers,

The recent comments about the NCAA Men's Final have been a joy to
read. The following post rehashes many of the points that others have
brought up, I almost decided not to submit it. I needed to send it to
get some kind of "closure" on this crazy season. It is typically
ponderous and long and kept growing. Our UCLA new server crashed in a
desperate attempt to save the Usenet from this, but, undaunted, I am
posting from Stanford. I've suffered for this sport, now it's your
turn. Comments are always appreciated. E-mail to os...@physics.ucla.edu.

Prelude

Charles Ives was an odd bird. Born into good circumstances, he
studied music and composition at Yale in the late nineteenth century.
Rather than devote himself fully to music, he had a very successful
career in the insurance industry. He wrote symphonies during his off-hours
and is now honored along with Gershwin and Copland as one of the
quintessential American composers. Schickele points out that Ives was
a master of the quodlibet, borrowing a fragment here and there from
popular works and then mixing them all together into something
interesting, if not always enjoyable. He paid homage to a foreign
musical tradition while creating something that was American in the
process. And the same might be said of NCAA Finals weekend at Pauley
Pavilion.

Men's volleyball is in peculiar territory. Many if not most programs
exist due to labors of love by people who have the canonical "day
jobs" elsewhere. The male volleyball player is often drafted at a
late age from other sports rather than being bred for the task from
the sandbox. Coaching methods are only now being systematized into
something resembling a science with inputs from aerodynamics to
psychology. And, in the end, we get a piece that reflects the strange
mix of its elements. A fun piece, nevertheless. Rather along the
lines of Ives's second symphony which mixed elements serious,
patriotic, and downright amusing into a fun half-an-hour.

Tourney weekend was much anticipated, mostly because it was to be
Hawaii's year to wrest the title away from the West Coast. In one of
those cruel twists of fate, the road to the title would run through
the den of iniquity known as Pauley Pavilion. And in another twist of
fate, Hawaii would have to defeat UCLA on UCLA's home floor.

A great deal has been said and written about the Hawaii "fan
experience." It has to be seen to be believed. Several thousand
green-clad fans, spannning every age demographic, came to UCLA early
on Thursday to prepare for the match. For well over two hours before
the doors opened, they barbequed, ate, sang, and even prayed to that
Big Kahuna in the Sky for the success of their team. As their squad
walked past the picnics and onto Pauley for warmups, the throngs
raised their voices in chant. Once inside, the teams were eventually
introduced and the National Anthem played. Following this, the
patriotic Hawaii fans broke out in the state song, the players
remaining respectfully at the end line. Their spirit loomed larger
than the Ghost of Wooden that still lurks in the building.

Hawaii defeats Penn State: 15-9, 15-3, 13-15, 15-7

The Rainbows played the first semifinal against a very capable Penn
State squad. The Lions have the personnel to contend in the MPSF if
they could only play that caliber of competition on a regular
basis. "Time on task," as was occasionally heard at the coaches
clinic, albeit in a different context. Penn State was hampered this
year by chaos at the setting position where star Carlos Ortiz was
declared academically ineligible earlier on in the season. Coach Mark
Pavlik started true freshman Justin Otto in the crucial second-ball
spot. The rest of the offense was distributed to Kevin Hourican and
Ivan Contreras. Both are physical specimens, agile and powerful.
Hourican distinguished himself in the middle, getting in and putting
the ball down before Hawaii's smaller blockers could react. This
would prove to be important for the final. Based on this one
performance, I think Hourican could easily displace either of UCLA's
middles were he to be playing for the Bruins.

Contreras, by contrast, had an uneven match. At times, he was
unstoppable, at other times, he stopped himself. In one particular
rotation, Otto had no viable backrow option, he also got tentative at
times, repeatedly setting the leftside. Despite the size
disadvantage, Hawaii picked up and capitalized on these tendencies.
The first game was a duel with Hawaii being down 1-4 and 5-7 before
waking up. Ring and Leoni served for eight points between them.
Wilton's serve kept the passers off balance and the sets off the net,
he accounted for five points including the game winner on a delayed
net call.

Penn State fell asleep in game two, Hawaii streaked to a 5-1 lead and
the first "official" aka television timeout. Penn State's service
errors repeatedly took them out of the possibility of a point. They
worked hard to sideout, relying on the big arm of Hourican, and then
promptly gave the sideout right back. Hawaii could do no wrong,
getting to 14-1 before the Lions mustered two points before the game
ended on a sizzling Wilton leftside seam-shot in transition. My chart
shows relatively few Hawaii plays.

No one expected game three to be much of anything and it provided one
of the surprises of the tournament. Hawaii continually played
catchup, from 0-2 to 2-2, and then to 5-5. Sergio Pampena accounted
for six points in streaks of three to keep Penn State ahead of the
Rainbow comebacks. Hawaii's rotations three, five, and six gave up
twelve points as the middles were cold and Naveh Milo made several
uncharacteristic unforced errors. Down 7-11, Hawaii fought back to
10-11 on Pichel's exquisite jumpserving. Pavlik called timeout after
a Hawaii lead at 13-12. Pampena rotated back to serve after a
sideout. The Lions dug a Katz D ball and converted to tie at 13-13,
Milo hit out and got blocked resoundingly for game point.

Mike Wilton started Rick Tune for Sivan Leoni in game four. Leoni had
not played particularly well and it was a good move to let the veteran
in for some match time. Hawaii once again put on a serving clinic,
going up 7-1 on an ace. Penn State then began to sideout and dug
Hawaii's attacks in rotations two, four, and five for pairs of points
in each, Hawaii times out at 7-6. The Rainbows have been known to
have lapses of concentration, their fans were no doubt a little
concerned that the players not assume an easy ride into the Finals.
Katz and Wilton came to the rescue on serve. Block, error, block,
error, rightside kill by Milo, 12-6 in two rotations. Penn State
managed to break the run with a single point before a Contreras error
sealed matters at 15-7.

The scouting report for this match would show that Hawaii's middles
never got blended into the offense, that they were almost a last
option after Katz and the swings. Furthermore, the outsides seldom
hit line, favoring the seam and crosscourt. Milo passed very well but
did not have a great match at the point of attack. Even Katz, the
human pretzel, hit line only in transition against a scrambling block.
The Rainbow fans accepted the victory, thank you very much. As the
Pythons once said, there was much rejoicing.

UCLA defeats Lewis: 15-7, 15-8, 15-10

One seldom expects much in the way of civilized behavior from the UCLA
Bruins. Today was no different from any other. Al Scates sent out
his merry band of redwoods against the Flyers. The one
exception being Ben Moselle who started at swing hitter in place of
the injured Fred Robins.

The record will show that Lewis took early leads in each game only to
fall victim to momentum-breaking television timeouts and tough UCLA
serving. Moselle and Stillwell were especially successful at
floatserving points in streaks. Mike Prosek played well for the
visitors and the Lewis team used the backslide attack to advantage.
This play, unusual in the men's game, often left Bruin middle James
Turner flatfooted and agape as the ball whizzed past him.

Lewis also served tough, especially in game three against the front
line of Wells, Metzger, and Turner. In a fine example of senior
leadership, Wells took to doing jumping jacks at the Lewis server.
Legal? Perhaps. Sportsmanlike? No. Typical? You betcha.

The record will also show that Lewis improved in each game and that
UCLA did not expect any kind of resistance. Silly Bruins, room
temperature superconductivity does not (yet) exist. The Flyers would
have placed somewhere in the bottom three of the MPSF based on
the personnel that I saw. They play a disciplined, if not spectacular
game and, with exposure to continuous tough-serving would improve
markedly in a relatively short time.

There must be more opportunities for "interleague" play in men's
volleyball, more opportunities for schools in the midwest and the east
to get experienced and battle-hardened against the MPSF. Fight like
you train, train like you fight. It works for fighter pilots, why not
for volleyball players?

In yet-another stroke of stupidity, the canonical powers-that-be
decided to eliminate the match for third place on grounds of
irrelevance. It appears, then, that sport as a means of developing
character and other cliche's is only that. A cliche'. Win or else.

The semifinal officials were non-Westerners. They were crisp,
efficient, and virtually transparent. For all the high-level play we
see out here in California, the referee corps is spotty at best.

Program notes

The intervening day of rest gave many of us the chance to attend the
first day of the AVCA clinic for coaches. I've posted a pre'cis of
this event elsewhere. The clinic also extended into Saturday,
starting at the ungodly hour of eight a.m. when most sane people are
still blissfully asleep. The program was nevertheless interesting
enough to warrant rising early.

The Wooden Center was usurped by some other clinic so we were
reassigned to the Math Sciences building for a day of chalk-talks.
Not all of the first day's presenters were scheduled to speak, yet,
Ken Preston and Marv Vader were there to listen and offer comments.
The Dark Lord does have his moments, he could be redeemed if only he
would shun the Wrong Side of the Force and tell his players to pass
like manly-men.

Long Beach's Ray Rattelle kicked off the day with an overview of
defensive schemes. He covered the key points of perimeter versus
man-up defenses with an emphasis on the men's collegiate game. It is
common in musical composition to take a known theme and disguise it so
it is virtually hidden but so that it always makes its presence felt
somewhere in the back of the head. With Rattelle it was the idea of
an "areal responsibility." That blockers and diggers do not only go to
points of responsibility, but, must also be ready to cover areas on
the court which mutate from play-to-play, hitter-to-hitter, and
set-to-set.

I asked Rattelle whether he teaches his players to block for points
all of the time or whether they have designed plays to get balls into
the backrow for transition opportunities. Rattelle was emphatic;
block for points, always. Is this wise? I don't know. There is much
more room for error in blocking, the hitter always has an advantage.
Yet, the man has won a couple of titles so his words carry weight.

Fred Sturm then spoke about the theory of hitting in tough situations.
The lecture hall did not have room for demonstrations so he went
through the various off-balance, off-rhythm sets normally encountered
and the options a hitter has available to him. He made a bold
assertion, that even at the National level, the US is behind other
countries in hitting, especially in tough situations.
Sturm is a believer in the hitter making smart, aggressive choices. In those
circumstances, getting blocked is acceptable. It is not, however,
acceptable to make a low-tape shot on an inside set with two blockers
up if high-hands are available. He covered many such examples.

The day prior, Jim McLaughlin kept returning to the importance of a
setter using good footwork to get to a ball off the net and to have
the proper balance before delivering the ball. Sturm similarly
stressed the footwork used by an outside hitter getting to a
high-ball. Once that rhythm is established, he suggested varying it
slightly to disrupt blocking timing. At all times, however, it is
vital to maintain an approach where the hitter can contact the ball at
full extension.

Why are we behind other countries in this area? Fundamentals. Our
players do not have the "time on task" that other countries give to
their players. Our players fo not have the ability to recognize
options and to select the best from the menu in the 100 milliseconds
allotted. Some of this might be due to players switching positions
"late in life," say at the age of twenty-one or twenty-two and not
having any repetitions at the new position. Sturm is happy with the
heat in his program, worrying more about the heads than the shoulders.

Bond, James Bond

Most men would love to have a name like that, if only for the social
possibilities. At least one USA coach has a name which comes close.
Imagine the effect of saying, "Hi, my name is Wilde... Rod Wilde" at
some target-rich watering hole.

Much like 007, Wilde is responsible for breaking down enemy defenses,
and that was his topic. The USA team is now adding its own wrinkles
into the the fabric of plays. In the most major of moves, they are
putting the setter right in the middle of the net. Imagine nine
equally-spaced zones from antenna-to-antenna, the setter is now at
position five, rather than position six. The opposing blocker now has
an area of responsibility rather than a point of attack. The bigger
the blocker, the more trouble he is likely to have moving around. The
coaches also believe this gives them more options on a pass that rates
a two on a zero-to-three scale.

Combined with the setter-middle alignment is a move of the quick
hitter takeoff point to six feet behind the net. This is feasible due
to the gland-cases now populating the high-level game. Wilde adduced
simple geometry to support these moves; the angles are better and
it allows front and back attacks in the style of a slide where the quick
uses one approach to set up three or more possible attacks. The quick
hitter must bear the additional burden of calling an audible depending
on the nature of the blockers. Wilde covered a number of possible
scenarios (which I'll eventually put intot he HTML version of this
abominally long document,) five players in every pattern, a blitzing
offense. Wilde also advocated having the middles set short serves for
rapid sideout opportunities. Well, he did play for Vader at one time.

What then of hitter coverage? This is a zero-sum game. Every
attacker is, by definition, not covering an area. Often there will be
one player responsible for more than half of the court. Beach players
will, of course, scoff at this but the indoor game is a hell of a lot
faster and rapidly spits out cutshot and dink specialists onto the
sand. And, of course, it is harder to use one's face as landing-gear
indoors. [Yes, yes, yes, I know. Now, tell me exactly how many
Ctvrtliks there are in this world.]

Wilde admitted that there was some measure of religion
involved and that prayer was a large factor. One hopes that the
non-hitters can quickly recover and put themselves in the vicinty of
the ball. An acceptable solution in exceptional times, but, this is
probably the strongest argument for *not* blocking balls straight
down.

It is purely a cross-sectional argument. Four hitters and a setter
close to the net. Large, sweaty players who present a lot of surface
area especially in the era of anything-goes defense. One player left
to cover five hundred square feet of court. Imagine a ball, control
blocked into the defender's back row. Two, maybe three hitters must
move back to defensive positions, the block has to reset, perhaps with
a setter coming out of the back row, the control-blocking team ought
to have a tremendous advantage. Or, the blockers press the ball into
the back court. The hitters must move back, one player has to chase
the ball down and get it up for a chaotic high-ball opportunity.

The last talk of the series was Mr. Suwara on attacking with the jump serve.
He correctly pointed out that there is no tradeoff of speed versus
accuracy with this play. "Bang it!" he said. He spent a good deal of
time on the effective jumpservers in his program, specifically Nygaard
and now, Ctvrtlik. Apparently young Mr. Nygaard has concocted a hard,
spinning jumper with the effect of a knuckleball. They have no idea
why it works, but, it seems to work nonetheless. Suwara told every coach
in the audience to groom jumpservers or face obliteration.

USOC sponsors often mention in their ads the training services open to
athletes who can trek to the center in Colorado Springs. Flumes for
swimmers, wind tunnels for bicyclists and bobsledders. I asked if any
studies have been done to help our volleyball teams understand the
airflow over a served volleyball. Apparently not. This is a
wonderful opportunity for some young aerospace, mechanical, or
chemical engineer; someone with an understanding of fluid dynamics, to
step in and help out by doing the experiments. Suwara seemed
receptive to the need for such information. $atanfjord's Ruben Nieves
asked who would be best positioned to do the job; undergraduate,
master's, or doctoral student. I think that a motivated undergraduate
could accomplish the task in a few months to a year if properly
supervised and equipped. Too late for Atlanta, but, perhaps in time
for the next World Championships. It may have been that Nieves was
having some fun with me, but, Stanford has the people and resources to
do this kind of study. I hope he pursues it.

Intermission

Dale Hoffman, his friend Jack the Policeman, and I hotfooted it to
Hermosa Beach for the WPVA tournament. We had about forty-five
minutes to watch before we had to hie back to Pauley for the 4pm
final. Got to see and meet Ali Wood, who occasionally posts to the
group. She and her partner, Marla O'Hara were up 12-4 against
Blomquist and Fletcher and held on to win 15-10.

The Main Event

Why all the fol-de-rol about Charles Ives? When I was writing up
notes for this post (six manuscript pages scribed with fountain pen,)
I was listening to Ives's second symphony on my microboom box. I
suppose I got carried away. Yet, the match, like that symphony, wound
up being a five-movement affair with moments of humor, drama, pathos
and bathos, patriotic fervor, and a furious cacophonous conclusion.

No crowd advantage accrued to UCLA. The thousands of Hawaii fans were
in quality and quantity far in excess of anything the Bruin partisans
could muster. The Rainbow fans drowned out UCLA's facsimile of a band
with little effort, they throttled the eight-clap, and the engineered
shouts of "Let's Go Bruins" with nary a thought. If support were the
measure of the match, it would be Hawaii's championship to lose.

Many of us shook our heads when Ken Taylor was announced as the
up-ref. Not a confidence builder. And John Martin on lines was
downright frightening assignment. We would, in the main, be proven
right. It would have been much better and much more appropriate to
have the Midwest or East people up for a match between two MPSF
schools.

Positional comparisons

Pichel, from Los Angeles, sets for Hawaii, Metzger, from Hawaii sets
for UCLA. An interesting transposition. Metzger has accumulated all
of the honors, Pichel has frankly been underappreciated largely due to
the strength of his passers. Both have court presence, both serve
extremely well. A small nod to Metzger since he is more of a dump
threat with his height advantage.

Leoni and Ring are tolerable defenders in the middle, Ring is capable
of being an offensive threat. UCLA wins here due to size, not talent.
Stillwell is slow, Turner's mouth is his best weapon. To those who
have not seen UCLA play except for the Final, cut Turner no slack. He
has been jawing at his opponents and at the referees all year. His is
a calculated act, egged on by his handlers.

Milo and Wilton are better passers than any of UCLA's many batteries
and despite their small size, they are fearless hitters. Brian Wells
is nothing to write home about, but, gets the job done in a
workmanlike fashion. Fred Robins deserves much praise for playing
hurt. Height advantage UCLA, gonads advantage Hawaii.

And finally, at the opposite, no contest. Katz over Nihipali,
anytime, anywhere, anyplace.

The Battle

Hawaii sent Jason Ring out to serve first, UCLA had Metzger left back.
In classic challenge/response structure, Hawaii would take leads only
to have the Bruins rally back. Katz was devastating on serve, acing
for 3 and then later for 8. Wells slapped a leftside ball out for 9-7
Hawaii, Metzger netted for 10-7 and a momentum breaking television
timeout. Someone has very accurately posted that these tv timeouts
hurt Hawaii. The UCLA setter did play well keeping his hitters
involved ("in system" as they say in the biz) and his middle alive.
Scates was constantly screaming at anyone who would listen, his team,
the referees, his assistants. He resembled some odd retro 70s disco
glitterdome.

Turner's antics notwithstanding, he hit very well and got a number of
crucial sideouts. Wells redeemed himself not so much with passing or
hitting, but, with his serves. With Hawaii up 13-11, Scates heaved
himself off the bench and called timeout. Wells served up 12 through
14 as Milo was dug on an x, Katz dug on a hut, and Milo blocked on a
5 all in Hawaii's Rotation 5. The game ended somewhat dismally as a
Hawaii player was called for lifting the ball on a transition set.
Cheap call given what MPSF refs have been letting go all season long.

Each team dialed back one slot in the rotation order with Wells doing
the honors for UCLA. The match mutated at this point into the Katz
Concerto with an eleven instrument backup. His devastating serve put
the UCLA passing battery on its heels. Naveh Milo chimed in likewise
with his jumper. Hawaii took a quick 7-2 lead as Paul Nihipali,
having a dreadful match, erred on a high Pipe. Scates pulled out the
hook and in came Ben Moselle. Nihipali did return a few plays later.
The 'bows, in turn, were vulnerable in rotations three and five where
Robins and the ever-pesky Metzger persisted with tough serving.

Katz shouldered passing as well as hitting burdens on offense. His D
balls were slowed and he did not try line shots in serve-receive.
UCLA's middle backs played excellent defense on these shots and the
line digger was aware of Katz's high-flying D-tip which, by now, is no
mystery. UCLA closed to 7-4 in between a number sideouts and Wilton
called timeout. The Bruins closed to 8-7 by stuffing Milo and forcing
Ring to err in the middle. Nihipali's struggles resumed, Hawaii went
up 11-8 and 13-9, forcing a UCLA timeout. With Milo at serve, Wells
got stuffed and then erred on the right side to even the match.

The lack of middle presence for Hawaii looked very troubling. With
Metzger right front, UCLA likes to pass high and tight, giving the
setter an opportunity to jam for sideouts. This is a very viable
option for UCLA, every one of their opponents has been bitten by it.
Metzger will, as one MPSF coach puts it, "dump all night until he is
stopped." This requires someone or two blockers going up with him.
And this frees up Stillwell on the 31 set with a big gap between the
Hawaii middle and rightside blockers. Slow armswing notwithstanding,
that play is essentially unstoppable on a good pass.

Scates took his first game rotation and inverted it for game three.
Turner started off in right back, putting him in the middle front when
Katz rotated into the front row. The Bruin passers went completely to
sleep as Ring served up four quick points, Nihipali and Turner made
hitting errors back-to-back for 6-0 Hawaii and another trip to the
bench for the UCLA opposite. As an attacker, Ring was consistently
better out of the back row, connecting on Pipes and As while not
synchronizing on front row middle plays. Metzger once again unleashed
his jumpserve with good effect, now from the right sideline. The
Bruins closed to 6-4 when Hawaii reestablished a sideout rhythm,
scoring patiently once per rotation to for 10-5.

The Rainbow backrow defense now had a say in the match. Ring versus
Turner in the front row as a better matchup than the games prior and
the Hawaii backrow was giving the aggressive Pichel chances to make
things happen in transition. The patriotic fervor from the visiting
fans resumed to general acclaim. Hometown support, stiffly
orchestrated, did not have that coherence.

Hawaii's middle attack with Leoni cost them dearly as rotation one gave
up points from 13-7 to 13-9. Katz scored 14 on a D behind his serve
and the front row clobbered Wells to take the match advantage.

If the Rainbows cannot win in three, they must win in four.
Perennially short, they usually run out of spring in five game matches.
UCLA started with Stillwell at serve and Hawaii with Katz middle
front. Nihipali was restored to grace and started. Fatigue may have
begun to set in for Hawaii as Katz continued to pass and block while
being the set of choice on most plays. Rotations one, five, and six were
vulnerable as UCLA jumped to a quick 4-1 lead. Milo whose offensive
presence was effectively invisible, connected well on serve to halve
at 4-4 as Fred Robins whipped a hut down the line and out. A Katz D
and Turner error made it 7-4 as the Hawaii fans sensed their team
closing in for the kill. Wilton killed a leftside ballfor 8-4 at which
point Turner mouthed off yet again, drawing a red card in the process,
9-4 Hawaii. Metzger dumped for a sideout, mouthed off himself in
another fine display of senior leadership and drew a yellow card.

Nihpali's lob-drop serve helped get the Hawaii passers out
of rhythm. Let it be noted for one and all that Wilton and Milo took
these short serves with forearms extended. Like manly-men.

Scates inserted Trong Nguyen to serve down 7-9. This is the kid that
has taken most of the season off to study for the MCATs. And he came
through brilliantly. UCLA scored 8 as Ring's A ball was dug and
played back. 9-9 came on an ace and the ominous foreboding set in.
For all of their drawbacks, UCLA is probably the most mentally tough
team in the country. Always has been. Hawaii's Rotation 2 gave up
10-10 and 11-11, Wilton's serve set up a Katz D in transition for
14-14, and a subsequent Katz D error gave UCLA game point at 15-14.
Ring crushed an overpass of Pichel's serve to tie at 15-15, and many
of us hoped for a quick end to the match. UCLA sided out, Wells
forced a pair of bad passes which forced game five. The last point
has been hotly debated, whether Metzger was an illegal backrow
attacker or not. I was perpendicular to the net, far away, I
couldn't tell. But, it is the kind of call UCLA will get at home.

I put my pen down. I hate rally scoring. I hate it win or lose. I
hate it as much as cutshots on the beach and overhand passing anywhere
outside of a picnic. This was a marvelous match, it deserved to be
decided just as each of the first four games were decided; sideout
scoring, two plays per point. UCLA had the blocking advantage, one
mistake and Hawaii was finished. And that is more or less how it
played out. Katz was approaching 80 swings on top of all of his
jumpserves and pass receptions. Pichel had to go to him, the blockers
camped out, control blocked Katz, and it was only a matter of time.
Nihipali who couldn't find the floor for most of the match, changed
his strategy. He simply hit into the block and hoped for the best.
And in rally scoring, that strategy works.

This game concluded much like Ives's second, full of sound and fury
with a sonorous "Columbia, Gem of the Ocean" competing against a
braying "Camptown Races." It should be clear which side took which
chorus. UCLA went out early and held on for dear life as Hawaii
staged a marvelous rally that fell a little short. The final ball
went down, favoring UCLA, Katz lay sprawled as he tried to pancake in
vain, evil once again triumphant.

I must congratulate the Bruins, lest this post be construed as sour
grapes and Ives. They fought hard to get to the Final and they were slightly
better prepared for what awaited them than Hawaii. Titlists once
again, still not champions. Others at the match have commented
eloquently on this point. Charlie Jackson has stated that he sees no
intrinsic evil or poor sportsmanship in the program where his son
plays. I'll point only to the numerous cards, yellow and red as any
monk's robes, that were displayed at the Bruins. This is a common
occurrence. There are many instances where even more cards could have
been displayed against UCLA this season, but weren't. This "behavior",
for lack of a better term, is not to be desired yet it is encouraged.
The displays are bad for the sport, those that encourage it are bad
for the sport.

In order to maintain some sense of honesty, Hawaii was no great shakes
in the talking department, either. Sivan Leoni was getting away with
a great deal of boorishness. The 'bows of Wilton and Reyes talk much less
than the 'bows of Rosehill and Crabbe. They still have some work left
to do.

The aftermath

The UCLA victory in game five was a shrill, dissonant chord that
ended an otherwise exceptional match. The 1996 NCAA Final should
go down as one of the classics. Yuval Katz turned in the finest
all-around performance it has ever been my privilege to witness. I've
seen Fortune play while violently ill, Hilliard shred defenses
singlehandedly, Ivie take command of matches, and Samuelson leave a
track of devastation in his wake. Katz did everything tonight,
serving, passing, hitting from everywhere, under the worst of
circumstances, blocking tough, and playing excellent backrow defense.
He hit close to 40% on close to 100 swings. I think it will be a
while before I see this kind of excellence approached, let alone
equalled. Others must have concurred since Katz was named Most
Outstanding Player, even in a losing effort.

The match lasted well over three hours, eighty percent of it was
played with traditional scoring and with more-or-less traditional
execution. There was the odd foot dig and backrow heave, but, not
excessively so. No one left early, people all over the country
watched it on television, *and* were moved to comment publicly. It has
been a pleasure to see the caliber and number of posts pertaining to
this Final. Let us hope, as Tomoo Taguchi wisely said, that Doug Beal
and others in the audience see the kind of support that high-quality
volleyball, played in the classical style, can engender. The present
setup will give us the odd bad match, over in an hour. But look at
what can happen on the other side. Signal is only signal when it rises
out of the noise.

Larger issues, if any

Why do intercollegiate sports exist? The "revenue" sports are merely
professional franchises in disguise. They exist to make money for
themselves, perhaps with some trickle down effect to the school.
The argument for non-revenue sports, in which category men's
volleyball most assuredly belongs, is that important values are
taught to the players. Watching MPSF athletes this season, *not just
those from UCLA*, I wonder what those lessons are. I have seen more
instances of crass, rude, and obnoxious behavior than I care to count.
A large fraction of the community, fan, player, and coach alike say
this is good. That it generates excitement, interest, and support.
Does it? Do we even want that kind of support?

When I came to UCLA two years ago, I had hoped to find something in
the Bruin men's program worthy of cheers. I came up empty. I attend
matches as one who enjoys the game and tolerates some amount of odor
towards that end. Rather like walking along the Santa Monica
beachfront. As a member of the UCLA community, I wish I could
speak well of the program, I like to take some pride in this
institution. Now it appears that even my long term support of Stein
Metzger has been misplaced. Contrary to popular belief, I don't enjoy
writing these kinds of comments about UCLA. It takes a lot of energy
to be this negative, I would love to expend that energy in other channels. And
now, the country has seen this kind of behavior more-or-less live.
Discouraging.

Gaudeamus, igitur

Most respondents to my call for a net-together sent their regrets.
It is truly amazing how many people must shampoo after merely watching
a volleyball match. And how many aging grandparents wait until the
final whistle blows before taking gravely ill. Three stalwarts,
however, were game for a post-mortem at one of our local restaurants.
Roland the Hawaii psychofan, the brothers McCracken (Dean and
Tim,) and I repaired to the Westwood Brewing Company for dinner. Dean
runs the Michigan State Women's Booster Club. He works on developing
fan support for the program and on devising ways to make the match a
"happening place" for the community. It appears that he is very good
at this! We discussed fan support at the various schools that we've
been at and, especially how much glitz is
too much, and how do we develop an interest in the substance of the sport,
rather than the trappings of the event? Although we reached no
conclusions, we enjoyed lively exchanges over good food and drink.

I note that Roland had the unenviable task of dining with a supporter
of the team that knocked the Wahine out of the NCAAs. He was
eminently successful. The highlight of the evening was when a
well-known Pac-10 volleyball player strolled in, dressed to the nines.
Four jaws collectively hit the table in a resounding thump.

Now what?

Now what, indeed? The long dry spell begins. Despite my antipathy
for antics, men's collegiate volleyball is something I enjoy
tremendously. Of all of the sport's incarnations, this one gives me
the most to watch, think, and write about. Live indoor men's sixes
are now eight months away. There will be WPVA stops and, of course,
women's season intervening. It was a fun four months, taken all in
all. I watched close to fifteen preseason matches and somewhere
around thirty MPSF regular and post-season events. Throw in a junior
college match and some high school tournaments, I got to see the
present, and future of the men's game. My near-term goal "is to pump
up the volume" as far as what I can assimilate when the UCSB Tournament rolls
around in 1997.

Volleyball is attracting much more physically talented athletes. I
dragged out a tape of a 1990 Stanford/Long Beach State match. The
players of today are bigger and quicker than those of years
past. In 1990, a 6'4" player would be tabbed immediately for the
middle. Nowadays, he might be lucky to get time as a defensive
specialist! It seems, and regrettably so, that the emotional maturity
of the players is going down. This is not an original observation.
I've heard coaches discuss it; as a fan, I think I can go along with
it. The average collegiate men's coach has too much to do as it is.
Dealing with the temperament of the modern player is pushing many of
the fraternity to the brink.

Is there scope for growth of the men's collegiate game? I am afraid
that there is not. Gender equity aside, there are leadership issues
to be resolved. Someone has to make it his priority to lead the
battle. I wish that leadership would come out of Westwood, I don't
think it will. Will the NVL help? It has to get off the ground
first and there appear to be significant structural problems with the
league as presently constituted. Not the least of which is that its
leaders think that the game must be killed in order to save it.

What do we want for men's volleyball in the long run? One
correspondent asked in a personal email whether we want the sport to
grow into something like the NBA. He pointed out, and I agree, that
the game as presently played is high quality and accessible to the
fan. One of the prime reasons for having the NVL is that American
volleyball players need not travel abroad for opportunities to earn a
living playing volleyball. What is so bad about traveling and living
abroad? We do not have infinite resources, we cannot have a
world-class presence in every field, in every sport. These are
lessons that Universities are learning as they are forced to examine
each one of their research programs and ask whether it is indeed
feasible to maintain a staggeringly broad presence. Some schools can,
most can't. We have to ask whether we want to change a good game
beyond recognition so we can *attempt* to compete in a sports market
that is close-to, if not at, saturation.

The second argument for the NVL is that it will generate much needed
funds for a National/Olympic team. By all outward indications, the
Olympic movement is dead. It has mutated into a grossly commercial
enterprise covered by a veneer of nationalism. Nationalism which inevitably
brings out the worst in people. The tough choice facing the USAV is
which program to support in an era of vanishing resources. The growth
potential in the game now seems to be on the side of the women. There
are more high school and collegiate teams than the men can reasonably
hope to have, there is a fledgling indoor league in place, and the
WPVA seems to be keeping its head above water. Unless a sugar-daddy
shows up with a big check for the USA Men's program, the right choice
may be to disband the Men's national team, let the best male
volleyball players go abroad, and to rent a Dream Team for the
Olympiads, so long as the IOC requires national affiliations.

This might, in the long run, benefit the players as well. Travel has
always been said to strengthen the mind and to smooth sharp-cornered egos. If
there is, indeed, a "maturity gap," then a few months or years abroad
may be the necessary sealant. Word is that Bob Samuelson is a
different person for having played a couple of seasons in Japan. The
implications of that statement are an exercise for the reader.

--- Oski
Final match was five games long, oh doodah day
os...@physics.ucla.edu

[Tomoo Taguchi]

In article <4n6qaq$3...@nntp.Stanford.EDU>, os...@w6yx.stanford.edu (Ravi Narasimhan) writes:

A fine summary. After reading your post, I can lay the 1996 Final
Four to rest.

Tomoo