The UCLA men’s volleyball team retained its No. 3 ranking
in the newest USA Today/AVCA poll released Tuesday. The stage is
now set for the Bruins (6-1, 2-1 Mountain Pacific Sports
Federation), who received one first-place vote, to take on
top-ranked Pepperdine (5-0, 1-0) at Pauley Pavilion on Saturday.
“I suspect the Pepperdine coach (Marv Dunphy) voted for
us,” UCLA coach Al Scates said with a laugh. “He
usually votes for whoever he plays.” First, UCLA will travel
cross-town to play struggling USC (1-4, 0-3) on Thursday.
ACOSTA OUT: UCLA outside hitter Jonathan Acosta
will need more than the expected three weeks to return to action
after falling ill with appendicitis Jan. 6. The junior team captain
is out indefinitely after having a minor procedure performed on his
stomach last week at the UCLA Medical Center. Acosta has only
started to do simple passing drills in practice.
OH MERCY: After using 24 players over the
course of last season, Scates is happy he never had to go to his
bench in sweeping UC Irvine on Friday. “I’ve had years
where the only reason I substituted was for mercy,” said
Scates, who has won 18 NCAA titles. “I don’t have the
Little League philosophy.”
QUICK SETS: Scates has learned from faculty
athletic representative Donald Morrison that MPSF officials hope to
table a proposal to host a 12-team conference tournament at
Hawai’i this season until 2005. Senior middle blocker Chris
Peña will sit out practice today after spraining an ankle, but
he is expected to play against USC.