When UCLA men’s volleyball faces UC San Diego tonight at
Pauley Pavilion, it will utilize new knowledge in the battle
against the Tritons.
But the Bruins are not pleased that this new knowledge results
from a 3-0 defeat at the hands of Long Beach State on Wednesday
night.
“Any time you lose a match, you learn from it, and grow
from it, and make sure it doesn’t happen again,” senior
outside hitter J.T. Wenger said. “There wasn’t too much
to build off (Wednesday) night, so we will go back to the drawing
board.”
After Wednesday’s loss, the Bruins (10-2 overall, 5-2
Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) will likely lose their No. 1
ranking and must face a UCSD team that is coming off of a big
victory.
The Tritons (5-5) beat No. 11 Penn State in Pennsylvania on Feb.
7, notching nine aces in the victory over the perennial powerhouse.
The Tritons hit .340 in the 3-2 win and were led by Jeff Urton and
Adam Toren, who notched 22 and 20 kills, respectively.
“(UCSD coach) Ron Larsen is great,” UCLA coach Al
Scates said. “His teams are always prepared. You better not
let down when you play them.”
Against No. 5 CSULB, the Bruins must have “let
down”; they were outhit .394-.298.
“Based on (Wednesday) night’s performance, we need
to work on blocking a little bit and serving a bit tougher,”
Wenger said.
The Tritons’ victory over Penn State impressed Scates, who
noted UCSD’s superb hitting in the win.
“UCSD is a Division II team that in reality is competing
like a Division III team because they offer their players nothing
““ no scholarships. This is probably the best team
they’ve ever had.”
Although they will relinquish their No. 1 ranking, the Bruins
are maintaining their confidence.
“We are going to take this match like any other match we
go into,” senior opposite Marcin Jagoda said. “(Just)
because we lost, nothing has changed (in) the way we do
things.”