As Al Scates sat in his office praising Marcin Jagoda for his
work ethic, the senior opposite sat in an adjacent office proving
his coach’s assertion. There, Jagoda stared intently at a
television screen, pouring over footage from a recent match.
That’s Jagoda ““ always working, always preparing.
At Crespi High School the senior opposite played basketball
before volleyball, so the phrase “sixth man”
isn’t unfamiliar to him, and he understands why people may
use that term to refer to his role on the volleyball team. That
isn’t to say he is content with simply coming off the bench,
because Jagoda always wants to get better. Even if it means
spending extra time reviewing tape.
“I don’t mind being labeled a sixth man,”
Jagoda said. “What I care about is that those six guys on the
court are getting the job done.”
When the 6-foot-3, 205-pound Jagoda comes off the bench, he puts
up big numbers ““ like the 17 kills and 10 digs he added in
the No. 1 Bruins’ (16-3 overall, 10-3 MPSF) comeback victory
over Stanford on Saturday.
While Jagoda does start in some of Scates’ lineups, more
often than not he comes off the bench. Jagoda is the proverbial
“sixth man” for a reason: according to Scates,
he’s the only player who can get hot instantly.
“It is very unusual that he can come off the bench
hot,” Scates said. “Some people are slow starters.
Marcin just gives us instant energy ““ he is very quick and
explosive.”
Against Stanford, Jagoda demonstrated this skill. With the score
tied at 9-9 in the third game, Jagoda was summoned from the bench
and made a kill on his first touch.
When asked to pinpoint the source of Jagoda’s instant
energy, Scates said Jagoda “just loves the sport and it shows
when he comes on.”
Teammate and roommate of three years Chris Peña had his own
theory.
“The guy has got energy to spare,” Peña said.
“He wakes up at 7.30 a.m. everyday. I’ll wake up at 11
a.m. or noon and he has already run errands and has gone to the
gym. For that reason, he can come off the bench. He can be warm at
the drop of the hat. He’s one of the most driven guys in that
sense. Coming off the bench is not easy to do.”
Last season Jagoda had few chances to play at all, as an ankle
injury sidelined him for most of the year. After earning a starting
position, three days before the team’s first match, he tore
two ligaments in his right ankle during practice. He missed three
and a half months of the season.
“It was frustrating,” Jagoda said. “Sitting on
the sideline with a boot kind of sucks. You can only cheer for so
long.”
Jagoda got to stop cheering and start playing again on April 2,
when he had a career night against USC, notching 21 kills, six digs
and five blocks.
“Marcin has rebounded well (from the injury),”
Peña said. “With Marcin, the guy is always going 100
percent. As far as climbing back up the ranks I knew he was going
to do that.”
Unlike other players on the team, Jagoda often learns whether he
will start in a match on very short notice. Because of this, Jagoda
said he has developed ways to prepare for matches differently,
depending on whether he will be coming off the bench.
“When I’m not starting, I say to myself, “˜I
need to go in and do this when they need me,'” Jagoda
said. “If I am starting, I know I need to play more
consistently as opposed to coming out with a whole bunch of
fire.”
Jagoda, an Encino native, excelled in both volleyball and
basketball in high school and was recruited for basketball by
Pacific and Rutgers. Cal State Northridge, Pacific and Irvine
recruited Jagoda for volleyball, but he ultimately decided to walk
on at UCLA. One wonders whether he ever thinks about playing for
the UCLA basketball team.
“I’ve always thought about it,” Jagoda said,
with a smile.
You know, he probably would give it a shot, if he didn’t
devote so much time to volleyball.