It seemed as if improvisation was the word of the weekend, or
rather, the tournament for the UCLA men’s volleyball
team.
Without a set lineup, the Bruins, playing north of the border in
Edmonton, Canada, battled valiantly, but lost all three matches
against three elite teams in the Husky Dino Cup Tournament on
Friday and Saturday.
Coach Al Scates heartily took on the challenges that came along
the way.
“I had eight people I’ve never seen in a UCLA
uniform play on the team,” Scates said, referring to the rule
that allows fifteen different players to play in the same game.
“We can only play 12 in the United States, so we had the
opportunity to play everybody.”
It was a whirlwind of a tournament in which the Bruins were
exposed to a seasoned atmosphere of volleyball and had to rapidly
adapt to keep from being swept by their opponents.
There were clear disadvantages for the Bruins ““ the
difficulty of adapting from Olympic rules to Canadian formation
standards, and the Bruins’ two weeks of practice, compared to
the Canadians’ seven.
However, UCLA chose to look at the experience as an opportunity
to warm up for the season. UCLA played against the University of
Manitoba and Western Trinity University, and the Bruins got the
chance to see what each individual had to offer for the team.
“We’re taking a good look at the players, and trying
to figure out who to put in each position,” Scates said,
taking advantage of the Canadian rules of volleyball. “The
Canadians were tough to beat, but we played as many people as we
could in all of the games.”
The Bruins lost to Manitoba but looked to bounce back. Against
Western Trinity the Bruins swiftly stepped up in the match to win
the first game 15-14. However, the team lost its momentum in the
following two games losing 25-15 and 25-21.
Before the team could stop for breath, the next day brought on
two more opponents, including the top-ranked team in Canada, the
University of Alberta.
At this point Scates decided to put most of the starters at the
net, including sophomore Brennan Prahler, who had previously played
as much soccer as volleyball, and sophomore Jonathan Acosta, one of
the only Bruins to make the all-tournament team.
Against Alberta, the Bruins took a loss in the first game,
25-23, battled back to win the second game, 25-21, before losing
the next two.
“It was a tentative tournament at best, but we learned a
lot about specific techniques and players on the court,”
Scates said.
Regardless of the scores, Scates was encouraged by the immediate
improvement in the second day of the tournament, and by the
achievements of the individual players. Rich Nelson set well and
freshman recruit Paul George quickly adapted the rhythm of the team
to play “really fast.” The team improvised in a tough
situation, and was fully versatile on the court.
This versatility was probably most fully demonstrated by junior
Jesse Debban, who had just taken the LSATs in the previous weekend
before jumping back into the volleyball courts.
“This was like spring football practice for us, an
exhibition of what we can do,” Scates said. “We need to
work on some specific things, and take some time off, but the
potential’s there. I’m very encouraged by the way we
finished; we really played like a cohesive unit. We’re
getting into shape quickly, looking forward to the NCAA
Championships, and we’ll definitely make an
impact.”