This time, there was no reason for the UCLA men’s
volleyball team to hide.
The Bruins, losers of six of their last eight matches,
didn’t have to hole up in their locker room after this
match.
Instead, they mugged for the cameras with the Kilgour Cup trophy
in hand after easily sweeping USC 30-20, 30-20, 30-26 Saturday at
Pauley Pavilion.
Freshman opposite hitter Matt McKinney led the coming-out party
with a career-high 13 kills. The top-ranked recruit coming out of
high school finally got on track in his sixth career match.
“The time has come,” McKinney said. “All the
hard work has paid off.”
McKinney is now with the volleyball team full-time while
redshirting in basketball. He is expected to play his first road
match Wednesday against UC Santa Barbara.
Head coach Al Scates is showing his dedication to developing
McKinney, who struggled last Thursday in UCLA’s 3-1 loss to
Pepperdine. Sophomore Allan Vince came off the bench to have a
career-high night with 27 kills.
Still, McKinney retained his starting spot against USC, and it
paid off for UCLA.
“McKinney looked comfortable for the first time on a
volleyball court,” Scates said. “I see him as a
long-term playoff player.”
Yes, playoffs. No. 12 UCLA (6-7, 3-7 MPSF) is talking playoffs.
The Bruins are very much in the hunt for a spot in the MPSF
tournament, and beating an inferior USC team (3-10, 1-8) was a
necessary step toward accomplishing that.
The Trojans, meanwhile, crawled back under the rock they came
from. Senior middle Josh Day got a head start after his float serve
sailed under the net. He promptly went back to the team huddle and
hid behind it in embarrassment.
The Bruins simply out-played the Trojans, out-hitting
(.416-.265), out-blocking (6.5-6) and out-digging (32-26) them.
For UCLA, junior middle blocker Chris Peña continued his
hot hitting, slamming a game-high 16 kills. Sophomore outside
hitter Gray Garrett led with nine digs. Senior middle blocker Scott
Morrow had four block assists.
The 26th annual Kilgour Cup marked the first time since the
death of former UCLA All-American Kirk Kilgour that the match was
played. Proceeds from the match will go to a scholarship fund in
Kilgour’s name for a disabled UCLA student.
“We won it for the man who we have on our sleeves,”
said Scates, who had Kilgour’s retired No. 13 sewn on UCLA
uniforms.
The match was also significant in another way.
“This game is a nice confidence-building win,”
Peña said. “It’s one of many to come.”