Slowly but surely, the UCLA men’s volleyball team has
begun to restore its damaged aura. The bumps and bruises, for the
most part, have healed.
A healthy attitude, however, quite possibly the only thing the
Bruins haven’t lost this season, is now as strong as ever.
Fittingly, archrival and defending national champion Hawai’i
is coming to town for matches on Friday and Saturday.
It will be No. 2 Hawai’i (13-5, 7-5 MPSF), the school that
cares the most about its volleyball, versus No. 8 UCLA (13-9, 8-7),
the school with the most volleyball championships.
Even UCLA head coach Al Scates, 1,000-plus wins and 18 NCAA
titles and all, will get up for this one.
“They beat us twice last year,” he said. “Now
we have to set them straight. I don’t mind them winning a
championship as long as we win our share.”
Last season, the host Warriors destroyed an injury-plagued Bruin
team that was without senior Scott Morrow and freshman Jonathan
Acosta.
Scates, though, went down guns blazing. He said after that UCLA
could have won at full strength. He accused Hawai’i setter
Kimo Tuyay of using illegal sets.
He ridiculed the Hawai’i mascot.
“I love when Scates does that in the papers,” UCLA
senior setter Rich Nelson said. “It just gets us fired
up.”
Across the Pacific Ocean, Warrior head coach Mike Wilton and his
players heard the comments and responded with biting barbs of their
own.
Over the summer, Hawai’i announced that UCLA would not be
invited to play in its annual Outrigger Hotels Invitational, which
the Bruins had won the previous five years.
“The reason in the press release was that they wanted to
recruit in China and were playing us twice anyway,” Scates
said, smiling.
“Their fans were tired of us winning,” Nelson said.
“That’s the reason (Hawai’i) doesn’t want
us.”
Scates, asked if there is animosity between Wilton and him,
said, “No, not at all ““ at least on my side.”
The last time Hawai’i played in Pauley Pavilion, middle
blocker Dejan Miladinovic climbed the referee’s stand to
celebrate a win. The All-American has since graduated, much to the
relief of UCLA.
“It’s hard to believe they’ll be as good
without him,” Scates said.
The Bruins have won six of their last seven conference matches,
recording most recently a solid 3-1 win over UC Irvine.
“That was our best match thus far, but we’re capable
of playing even better,” Scates said.
With the Bruins currently sitting tied for eighth in the MPSF,
the two Hawai’i matches are crucial.
To beat Hawai’i, UCLA will have to contain senior outside
hitter Costas Theocharidis. The All-American from Greece recently
notched his 2,000th career kill.
“Theo-what’s-his-name ““ he’s the best
hitter in the country,” Scates said. “I don’t
think we’ve ever stopped him.”
Hawai’i is a team that recruits and features a number of
foreign-born players.
“Costas ““ he has to be pushing 25, 26,” junior
middle blocker Chris Peña said of the 23-year-old.
“That’s the NCAA. They make it legal somehow. Let a few
guys slip through the cracks like Theocharidis.
“These are old guys. They’re wise
players.”
UCLA, meanwhile, might break some old records by becoming the
worst team in school history. The Bruins’ worst-ever season
came in 1991 when they finished 16-9. They are only one loss away
from tying their single-season record, which was in 1988, but even
then they were 28-10.
Still, UCLA could just conceivably forget about all that and win
the NCAA championship.
“We still have the same goal, that’s for
sure,” Peña said.
In other words, by this time next year, UCLA wants to be where
Hawai’i is now.