It’s not fair.
When you’re the No. 1 team in the country, you
shouldn’t be able to just add good players toward the end of
your season.
But that’s exactly what the UCLA men’s volleyball
team is doing ““ twice in fact.
First, Saturday marked the return of dual-sport athlete Matt
McKinney, who was at one time the No. 1 volleyball recruit in the
nation. McKinney hadn’t played in a match in two years
because of multiple injuries, but he had 15 kills on Saturday and
topped that with a 17-kill performance on Wednesday night in
UCLA’s 3-1 win over Cal State Northridge.
But the Bruins virtually added another player on Wednesday night
““ Steve Klosterman.
True, Klosterman had been on the team all of this year. But he
hadn’t been playing much at all recently, and when he did
play, he played poorly. A year ago, in his freshman year,
Klosterman led the team in kills, finishing the season with 55 more
kills than his next closest teammate. But Klosterman got off to a
very rough start this season and as a result was demoted to the
bench.
Klosterman had only played once in the Bruins’ previous
three matches ““ and in that match, he had eight kills while
hitting an awful .100.
Wednesday night was much, much different.
Klosterman didn’t play at all until midway through the
second game, but still racked up 16 kills, hitting a stellar .517.
He lifted UCLA to a comeback in the second game and stayed on fire
for the rest of the night.
“I wanted to come in and do as much as I could,”
Klosterman said. “I put some balls in and was trying to give
my team some momentum.”
“Klosterman did a great job,” UCLA coach Al Scates
said. “It was a breakout game.”
Scates said that Klosterman hadn’t been playing this well
in practice. So Wednesday night truly was a breakout game.
“Every night players come off the bench,” Klosterman
said. “They’re in there to lift the team up.”
And lift them he did. The Bruins were losing the second game to
Northridge while the Matadors’ star player, Nils Nielsen, was
unstoppable and having a career night. But with Klosterman’s
help, UCLA took a commanding 2-0 lead in the match.
Klosterman almost didn’t get to play in the match at
all.
One of his grades from winter quarter hadn’t come in yet,
and he wouldn’t be allowed to play until it came in. As late
as 5 p.m., Scates still thought that Klosterman couldn’t
play.
“I told him to suit up and sit down, and not to come in if
I ever told him to,” Scates said.
But not too long before game time, Klosterman’s teaching
assistant called in with the grade, and Klosterman was finally
cleared to play.
“Linda Lassiter should get a game ball,” Scates said
about the counselor in the athletic department who helped clear
Klosterman to play.
And as Klosterman regained his form, McKinney looked well on his
way to reaching his potential, getting more sets than anyone else
on Wednesday night.
UCLA had established itself as the top team in the country
without McKinney and Klosterman. But with McKinney added to the
lineup and Klosterman returning to his old form, it appears that
other teams don’t even have a chance. There’s no reason
this UCLA team won’t win the NCAA Championships in Pauley
Pavilion next month.
E-mail Quiñonez at gquinonez@media.ucla.edu.