With his team trailing late in the first game Saturday night
against Stanford, UCLA men’s volleyball coach Al Scates
looked down at his bench for an unlikely spark.
Enter dual-sport athlete Matt McKinney.
McKinney, better known as a forward on the UCLA basketball team,
had only practiced with the volleyball team for four days and had
not played in a match in nearly two years. But when Scates needed a
boost off the bench on Saturday, he knew who to look for.
“It’s really remarkable,” Scates said.
“After not playing for such a long time, he was able to step
into practice and pick up things right away.”
“When I put him in the match, I knew exactly what to
expect.”
McKinney finished that night with 15 kills and helped the Bruins
earn a victory that kept them alive in the race for first place in
the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. He is expected to play a
major role down the stretch as UCLA vies for its first national
title in four seasons.
“Knowing how well the team is doing this year, I just want
to contribute in any way I can,” McKinney said.
“I’m really excited to get back out there on the
court.”
The road that McKinney has taken to reach this position has been
lined with obstacles.
Toward the end of spring last year, McKinney was diagnosed with
a stomach illness.
The medication he took for the ailment, however, slowed his
heart rate, reducing the amount of oxygenated blood that flowed to
his muscles and causing him to grow fatigued quickly.
After a fast break drill, his legs felt like dead weight. After
a free throw drill, his arms ached. Even something as simple as
warming up for a game left McKinney doubled over with
exhaustion.
“For a long time, the doctors didn’t know what was
wrong,” McKinney’s mother, Lee Ann said. “Being a
nurse, I was extremely worried, because I knew his health and
athletic future was in jeopardy.”
McKinney underwent numerous tests and changed medications three
times over the summer and fall in order to find the answer for the
problem, but nothing seemed to work.
In January of this year, a breakthrough occurred when doctors
finally realized that it was McKinney’s medication that was
causing the problem.
Prior to UCLA’s game against USC on Jan. 29, the doctors
prescribed McKinney a new medicine that wouldn’t affect his
athletic condition.
For McKinney, it was a relief.
“I never had any serious medical problems in high school
and college prior to this year,” McKinney said. “To
finally have the entire situation resolved, it was just a big
relief.”
McKinney responded well to the new medication, scoring a
season-high four points and pulling down three rebounds in nine
minutes of action against USC.
Though he did not see much action the rest of the basketball
season, he did fully recover from his ailment. With a clean bill of
health, he rejoined the volleyball team last Monday with a renewed
sense of determination.
He’ll need that determination to break into the starting
lineup by playoff time.
Scates named McKinney the backup to outside hitter Jonathan
Acosta after his performance on Saturday, saying the redshirt
sophomore will have to continue to make progress against conference
foes Cal State Northridge and UCSB this week.
“I think Matt can be a great benefit for our team,”
Scates said. “We’ll just have to see if he can
reproduce the effort again this week. We could certainly use his
blocking and passing as an anchor for our defense.”
Coming out of Santa Ynez High School as a two-sport athlete,
McKinney was the nation’s No. 1 volleyball recruit, but he
has yet to put together a full season in either sport.
As a freshman, McKinney played in 11 matches for the volleyball
team, but redshirted for the basketball team.
His sophomore season last year was also difficult as he suffered
a broken foot early in the fall and was unable to play either
sport.
“It was a huge disappointment,” McKinney said.
“I had worked extremely hard to get ready for both sports,
and it was just a huge letdown.”
Scates, for one, however, sees a very different player than the
one who played for his volleyball team nearly two years ago.
“He is a completely different person now,” Scates
said. “He is bigger and stronger than ever, and has just
matured as a person. I see a very different Matt McKinney this time
around.”