Hungry volleyball heads to UCSB Invite
By Eric Branch
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
Someone woke up the sleeping giant.
The UCLA men’s volleyball team opens its season today at the
prestigious UCSB Invitational Volleyball Tournament with an
attitude. Since being stunned by Penn State in the national
championship game last season, the Bruins have marked their
calendars for the debut of the ’95 season in Santa Barbara. Upon
its arrival, diplomacy has been heaved out the window.
Despite playing in a tournament which features six of Volleyball
Monthly’s top seven teams from last season’s final rankings, the
Bruins are not eager to babble about strong fields or
opponents.
"I think it’s a great opportunity to pound some teams and send a
message to everyone else in the country," UCLA senior captain Erik
Sullivan said.
Head coach Al Scates might have something to do with the Bruins’
brimming confidence. Before the tournament Scates filled in the
tournament brackets and quickly discovered the Bruins would grab
first place.
"Well, that’s the way I always dope it out," Scates said. "But
sometimes I have to use that second sheet."
Despite their self-assurance, the entire team must stay focused
to make Scates a prophet. The 24-team, pool tournament will see the
Bruins involved in five best-of-three-game matches today, making
depth a necessity.
"You have to play your second team a lot to win this or even get
to the finals," Scates said. "You can’t keep the same six guys in
there all the time because they’ll wilt. So the depth of the team
is important."
According to Scates, Stanford and Brigham Young, which finished
last season No. 2 and No. 4 respectively, will provide the Bruins
with their stiffest competition.
"Stanford has plenty of talent and an extremely deep bench,"
Scates said. "Along with them, BYU has a lot of depth. I counted up
30 players on their roster counting the guys going on missions. So
they should have plenty to last the tournament."
The Bruins starting lineup is currently settled except for the
battle at the opposite position where sophomores Matt Noonan and
Paul Nihipali, who missed fall practice with a broken jaw, continue
to fight for the starting position.
"Noonan is currently my starter at this point," Scates said.
"But with the potential Nihipali has he is going to be getting
better. Matt is going to have to win that position every week on
the floor. This weekend will be a good test for both of them."
For his part Sullivan is not interested in talking about
starting lineups or stiff competition.
"I think we’re all tired of just practicing," Sullivan said.
"We’re ready to go out and start playing."