Correction Appended
Ah, the Wooden Center.
Just when the No. 3 UCLA men’s volleyball team thought it
was safe to cruise on into the playoffs, this happens.
Because the NCAA women’s gymnastics national championships
are being held in Pauley Pavilion this week, Wednesday’s
match against No. 5 Cal State Northridge will be held at Wooden,
where many Bruins have received bumps and bruises during practices
in previous years.
This season, UCLA has moved its practices back to the newly
renovated Student Activities Center, but the team practiced at
Wooden on Tuesday.
“It’s too confining for us,” UCLA coach Al
Scates said. “I was always worried about guys getting hurt.
We played better defense this year, rather than (being) worried
about running into a dance mirror or a wall.”
Percentage-wise, the Bruins actually have a better record in
Wooden than in Pauley, but this is because they have played mostly
pushovers there in the past.
Not that this match matters much, though. With two matches to go
in the regular season, UCLA has already locked up the No. 3 seed in
the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation conference tournament next
week, and will host the No. 6-seeded team at Pauley.
UCLA (21-5, 15-5 MPSF) has played well as of late, most recently
upsetting top-ranked BYU in a come-from-behind five-game thriller
on Friday.
“We just want to keep playing well,” Scates said.
“We played the best match of the season against Pepperdine,
and the best three games we put together were the last three
against BYU.”
Five seniors ““ middle blockers Chris Peña and Matt
Shubin, outside hitters Marcin Jagoda and J.T. Wenger, and libero
Adam Shrader — will be honored at Wooden, as Senior Night
typically takes place at the last regular-season home match.
The seniors can take solace in the fact they will not yet have
played their last match at Pauley.
Correction:Men’s volleyball did not
clinch the No.3 seed in the MPSF playoffs until Wednesday
night.