M. volleyball has high hopes for Santa Barbara invitational
Coach to evaluate players’ readiness for Hawaii Tournament
By Ruben Gutierrez
Daily Bruin Staff
The UCLA men’s volleyball team will face its first challenge of
the season this weekend at the UC Santa Barbara Collegiate
Invitational. According to UCLA head coach Al Scates, the
tournament will also serve as a critical evaluation period before
regular season play begins next weekend at the Hawaii
Tournament.
"We’ve got to play some teams that are pretty good with our
second team or we won’t have a chance to get to the finals," Scates
said. "A lot of teams try to go with their first team the whole
time and they just get too tired. When they get to the matches that
count – the first place match or the third place match – they don’t
have it. I go into this tournament with two goals: to play
everybody and win it."
Though Scates has already earmarked a starting six for the
season anchored by All-American setter Stein Metzger, the team
still lacks an established set of reliable substitutes. A pleasant
surprise for Scates so far this season has been the strong play of
freshman Dan Farmer. Farmer, also a member of the UCLA football
team, was expected to redshirt but has played well enough to
warrant court time this season.
"I thought he was going to redshirt," Scates said. "He’s just so
quick and explosive; he reminds everybody of John Speraw. Speraw
didn’t get to start until his fifth year, but he was always ready
to go and got playing time every year. Losing (two-time Player of
the Year Jeff) Nygaard and moving (Paul) Nihipali to middle blocker
also opened things up for Dan a little bit."
In the starting six, along with Farmer and junior Matt Noonan,
Scates has eight players he feels comfortable playing against
anyone. With Metzger on top of his setting game, Scates has been
impressed by the first team so far. Scates is so confident in
Noonan and Farmer that he runs them with the first team in
practice.
"On the second team, Dan Farmer and Matt Noonan played
exceptionally well," Scates said. "It’s good to see that we have
eight players who I feel real comfortable with. (In practice), I
ran Matt Noonan at opposite with the first team, Stein’s team, and
Dan Farmer too. They fit right in, so that really gives us some
nice depth."
The tournament will also provide the first opportunity for
defending national champion UCLA to answer to an
uncharacteristically low No. 5 preseason ranking.
After preparing lightly with two victories in exhibition matches
last week against Cal and UCLA alumni, the Bruins will face
competition from several teams also ranked in the preseason.
Scates, the coach of 15 NCAA championship squads, believes this
season’s edition will be competitive with every team in the nation.
According to Scates, preseason rankings pale in comparison to the
task of improving steadily at this early juncture in the
season.
UCLA will be in the D group of pool play, accompanied by Brigham
Young University, California and Arizona. UCLA swept Cal on Jan. 12
and expects the stiffest challenge in their group to come from
BYU.
"BYU always has about eight players on missions," Scates said.
"So they bring guys in that you don’t even know about. I’m eager to
see what they’re bringing this year. These guys are about two years
older than your normal class and sometimes, they’ve been down in
Brazil or somewhere playing volleyball, where they come in shape.
They always claim they don’t have anything, but when you look out
on the floor, they’ve always got some good players."
With the top two teams from each four team group advancing, UCLA
has an excellent shot of making it to the finals or consolation
finals for third place. Should they reach either final, the Bruins
will begin their season early, as the results of both finals will
count on season records.
"If we get to the finals or the third place match, it’s a
counter," Scates said. "It’s like the first match of the season.
You could lose and come out 0-1. We’ve never done that. We’ve
always won the match we’ve played."
NIMA BADIEY
Senior swinghitter Matt Taylor and the defending National
Champion UCLA men’s volleyball team will play Cal today in the UC
Santa Barbara Collegiate Invitational.