Prior to Wednesday night’s match, Al Scates read off to
the local media a long list of minor injuries that his team had
recently suffered.
The UCLA men’s volleyball head coach let out a hearty
laugh. He would actually have to use his home opener that night to
separate the starters from the sidelined.
UCLA ultimately used and abused UC Santa Cruz for that purpose.
The No. 3 Bruins defeated the Division III Banana Slugs in a 30-16,
30-15, 30-12 laugher at Pauley Pavilion.
The Bruins never trailed in a match that only took them one hour
to win. By the time Game 3 came around, senior setter Rich Nelson
and junior middle blocker Chris Peña were already in
sweats.
“It wasn’t that competitive of a match, so I took
them out,” Scates said.
“This was the perfect practice,” added Nelson, who
played through a pinched nerve.
Sophomore middle blocker Paul Johnson, starting in place of the
injured Matt Shubin, had eight kills. Shubin sat out with severe
shin splints but will suit up for Friday’s match against UC
Irvine.
Scates used the match in his search for a starting lineup, as
well.
Brennan Prahler started at opposite hitter and hit .750 with
seven kills. Allan Vince, who saw equal time, hit .200 with five
kills.
In the battle to win a spot at outside hitter, Gray Garrett
started, but was replaced by Saul Zemaitaitis after complaining of
shoulder tendinitis.
Sophomore outside hitter Jonathan Acosta, who had an
injury-plagued season last year, looked sharp, registering a
match-high of nine kills and hitting .636.
UCLA libero Adam Shrader led all players with seven digs.
The Bruins out-slugged the Banana Slugs .500 to -.123. UC Santa
Cruz had only 22 kills against 32 hitting errors.
UCLA also out-blocked UC Santa Cruz, 15-1. The 7-foot-11-inch
redshirt freshman Nick Scheftic, a backup middle blocker, led the
Bruins with five block assists.
“We made the most of this match,” said Peña,
who came up with four blocks. “We got used to playing in
Pauley. And we didn’t play down to the other team’s
level.”
Asked to comment on the men’s basketball team, Peña
smiled and declined.
A lackluster crowd of 413 showed up for the match. It was so
quiet that prolific UCLA fan Captain Helmet could be heard
clapping.
“If that match had gone (for 90 minutes), we would have
had a bigger crowd,” Scates said. “People were still
coming in.”
The crowd got most of its excitement out of watching UC Santa
Cruz’s Eric Reid, a 5-foot-10-inch freshman outside hitter,
sneak balls past the tall Bruin block. The Santa Monica native
finished with a team-high of four kills on the night.
UCLA, meanwhile, is on a high going into Friday’s
conference opener against No. 2 UCI. The Anteaters, coached by
former UCLA assistant coach and player John Speraw, are off to a
5-0 start after defeating the Bruins in five games in last
weekend’s UC Santa Barbara tournament.
UCLA is 43-2 all-time against UCI.