April 18, 1998

LOS ANGELES - Top ranked UCLA served 10 aces, hit .414 and outblocked Loyola Marymount 9-6 en route to a 3-0 victory in the first round of the MPSF playoffs Saturday night at the John Wooden Center. The victory gives the top-seeded Bruins the home-court advantage for the remainder of the MPSF Tournament, scheduled for Apr. 23 & 25 in Pauley Pavilion.

The Bruins will host Long Beach State, a 3-1 victor over BYU, in a 7:30 p.m. MPSF Tournament semifinal Apr. 23. Pepperdine, a 3-1 winner over Stanford, meets the winner of the Hawaii-UC Santa Barbara match at 5 p.m. the same night. Thursday's winners play for the automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament, scheduled for Apr. 30 & May 2 at the University of Hawaii.

The Bruins (25-3) overcame early game deficits to defeat the Lions (8-13), 15-10, 15-8, 15-2 in one hour and 41 minutes before a noisy crowd of 609. For the second consecutive match, UCLA, the country's top serving team, reached double digits in the ace column, serving five aces for the final six points in Game 3 for a total of 10 for the match. Sophomore setter Brandon Taliaferro, who earned AVCA and MPSF player of the week honors, served three of his match-high five aces in Game 3.

Sophomore Adam Naeve led the Bruins with 16 kills and eight blocks, followed by Tom Stillwell's line of 13-1-18 (.667).

Sophomore Reid Priddy led LMU with 16 kills, followed by junior Tim Farmer's 13.

UCLA's victory over LMU was its third of the season and extended its undefeated string against the Lions to 56 consecutive matches.