It could have been one of the biggest upsets in the history of
UCLA men’s volleyball. Instead it was just a final tune-up
before the postseason commences this week.
In their final regular season match, the Bruins (25-4, 18-4
MPSF) needed five games to put away UC San Diego (2-24, 1-21)
Friday night, who now has never beaten UCLA in 40 attempts.
The Bruins had already solidified the second seed in the
Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Tournament prior to Friday
night, and will play the winner of the play-in match between
Stanford and Cal State Northridge in the quarterfinals next
Saturday at Pauley Pavilion.
Yet even though they may have been cruising toward the
postseason, the Bruins didn’t expect to be challenged by
UCSD.
A day after a tough loss to Long Beach State, the Tritons
applied pressure from the onset of Friday’s match, keeping
the Bruins on their toes for most of the 26-30, 30-23, 35-37,
30-20, 18-16 UCLA victory.
“We came to the game with an expectation, but (UCSD) far
exceeded that expectation,” redshirt junior Allan Vince said.
“We expected them not to play with such motivation, but they
came out really strong. It made the match much more exciting and
showed us what some of our weaknesses are.”
Capitalizing on the Bruins’ weaknesses early, the
emotionally charged Tritons jumped out to a quick start in front of
their home crowd. Friday’s match was the last for six UCSD
seniors as well as for the Tritons’ coach, who will now
become an assistant coach for the USA Men’s Volleyball
Olympic Team.
“They came in all fired up because it was the last match
for them,” UCLA coach Al Scates said. “Their team
isn’t that bad even though their record is horrible, and they
were inspired. They were playing great and we weren’t, which
is why they beat us in the first game.”
After hitting a poor .270 in Game 1, compared to UCSD’s
.448, the Bruins rebounded in Game 2, hitting .444 and holding the
Tritons to .152.
“They had nothing to lose, and we had everything to lose,
so they played with a free spirit and we held back in the first
game,” Vince said. “They brought out some stuff that we
weren’t used to, and we had to figure out how to play against
them on the spot.”
The Bruins let the third game slip away after leading 27-22, but
dominated the next two games behind the continued strong play of
senior Paul Johnson, who notched 24 kills (.639) and seven total
blocks. Redshirt sophomore Matt McKinney also had an impressive
performance, recording his first career double-double with 18 kills
and 13 digs.
“UCSD dug well, but they couldn’t dig PJ or
McKinney,” Scates said.
Even though the Bruins barely defeated a lesser opponent, Scates
is not worried about the team heading into the playoffs. On Friday,
he used all 12 suited players for the match to see who he could use
in the postseason.
“Regardless if we won or lost, we would be second in the
conference, and I wanted to get a last look at all the players
before the playoffs,” Scates said.
“I was mixing it up to see who I could use later, and any
time you jerk the lineup around, it’s not going to be
smooth.”