After 40 years as the UCLA men’s volleyball coach, Al
Scates has garnered an all-time NCAA single-sport record 1,044
career victories as well as the moniker, “The Second Wizard
of Westwood.”
So Scates, the lord of 18 NCAA championship rings, will often
reaffirm his living-legend status by reaching into the bottom of
his big bag of players and magically striking gold.
He had to dig awfully deep to come up with Saul Zemaitaitis and
Marcin Jagoda.
“These players were so far down on the roster that if I
had to cut players in the fall, they would have been cut,”
Scates said.
But now, Scates has deemed these 30-man roster fillers starters
for Friday’s season opener against USC at the UC Santa
Barbara/Elephant Bar Collegiate Invitational.
“It’s been a dream of mine,” Zemaitaitis said.
“When I heard the news, it was a pleasant thing.”
Neither Zemaitaitis nor Jagoda played last season or even in
preseason matches in the fall. Still, Scates gave each of them an
opportunity to win a starting spot, and they took advantage of
it.
Zemaitaitis, a 6-foot-4 redshirt freshman outside hitter, steps
in for All-American Matt Komer, who completed his eligibility last
season.
“Saul gives me great ball-handling and great
defense,” Scates said. “He gets on the floor and
grovels. He does everything well. We haven’t had a player
like that in quite a while.”
Jagoda, a 6-foot-3 junior opposite hitter, is a gifted attacker
who has only played in six career matches. He was brought on as a
serving specialist in 2001 and saw action in the national
championship game. Jagoda takes the place of Cameron Mount, who
only learned that he had used up his eligibility in October.
Scates gave Jagoda a chance after sophomore Allan Vince, who was
the favorite to start at opposite after receiving significant
playing time in the fall, suffered a minor elbow injury.
Zemaitaitis and Jagoda won jobs over a laundry list of players
who had more experience. Scates, in his search for starters, even
gave junior libero Adam Shrader a look at outside hitter.
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Senior middle blocker Scott Morrow will meet with doctors on
Thursday to learn more about his status for the season after
undergoing surgery on his torn knee tendon in November.
Morrow, who suffered the injury last season, has told coaches
that he is ready to play, but trainers have said otherwise.
Scates said that Morrow will likely return to action in
February. Sophomore Paul Johnson, who saw action in 20 matches last
season, and junior Matt Shubin are vying for Morrow’s
spot.
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Scates has won the Alumni Association’s Award for Professional
Achievement and will receive it May 17.