At first glance, the UCLA men’s volleyball team that
soundly defeated UC San Diego on Friday looked like the same group
of dominant players that has defeated five of the nation’s
top eight teams en route to a No. 1 ranking.
Except one thing was different in UCLA’s 3-0 sweep at
Pauley Pavilion: Senior outside hitter Brennan Prahler was
playing.
After 43 matches and 22 months on the bench, the senior was more
than ready to contribute.
“I haven’t played in a long time, and it was really
nice to get back out there,” Prahler said. “I think I
did pretty well, too.”
Playing every minute of the match, Prahler slammed 10 kills in
19 attempts (.368), recorded four block assists, and got five digs
in the 30-15, 30-24, 30-21 victory.
“Prahler’s a fifth-year senior, buried behind the
blue curtain. But when I had the third team play the second team in
practice, he looked really sharp,” UCLA coach Al Scates said.
“Anybody who can hang in there for five years as a
non-scholarship athlete deserves a chance to start in his senior
year.”
Even though the Bruins (12-1, 8-1 MPSF) were playing the team
with the NCAA’s worst record, Prahler had no problem finding
motivation to play well against the Tritons (0-10, 0-9).
“I was fired up just to be out there,” Prahler said.
“It didn’t matter who we were playing.”
Starting in place of sophomore Steve Klosterman, Prahler took
advantage of his rare opportunity to play, hitting two of the first
four kills in Game 2.
“Steve was making some unforced errors lately, and I was
trying to send him a little message that I’d prefer the ball
to be hit in the court,” Scates said. “I thought
Brennan hit well. He also hit the block a lot, and that’s
what I like.”
Prahler wasn’t the only player who came off the bench to
contribute for UCLA. Junior Nick Scheftic, who had only played in
five games this year, replaced senior Allan Vince in the third game
and tallied five kills (.333).
“Vince wasn’t putting the ball away tonight because
they had two guys on him,” Scates said. “Scheftic will
be our starter next year, so he needs to play. I thought he did
well.
“He got up and in their face and they started hitting a
few balls out.”
Perhaps the biggest accomplishment of the day for the Bruins was
just staying focused against the Tritons and not letting them
control the tempo of the game.
UCLA hit .385 while holding UCSD to .168.
“We controlled everything on our side, which led us to
beat them in three (games),” said senior Jonathan Acosta, who
led the Bruins with 15 kills (.667) and six digs.
“We were fired up because we knew we couldn’t cruise
to a win. Everyone came in and did their job.”
With their 39th consecutive win against UCSD, the Bruins avoided
becoming the first team to lose to the underrated Tritons this
season.
“The players concentrated against an opponent that
hasn’t won a match, and that is difficult,” Scates
said.
“UCSD is not a bad team, though. They’re going to
beat whoever doesn’t respect them. I guarantee they will beat
somebody. Every year they knock off a couple teams in the top
10.”