Bruins have two chances to pounce on Cougars

If the No. 6 UCLA men’s volleyball team thought they could
relax after winning a five-game thriller over Hawai’i last
Friday, they were sincerely wrong.

That’s because the Bruins’ main rival and top
competitor, No. 2 Brigham Young, is coming into town.

The Bruins (4-3, 0-1 MPSF) host the undefeated Cougars (6-0,
4-0) for their first home league matches tonight and Saturday at 7
p.m. in Pauley Pavilion.

After a three-match losing streak in the beginning of the
season, the Bruins regained their self-confidence in a sweep of
Penn State and a thrilling, come-from-behind win over
Hawai’i. UCLA will use its momentum to carry it tonight as it
faces a powerful and more experienced Cougar squad that had early
victories over UC Santa Barbara and Cal State Northridge.

“They’re very solid,” coach Al Scates said.
“They had a lot of first-place votes this week. We know they
are for real.”

Leading the BYU offense is sophomore outside hitter Ivan Perez,
who was recently named both the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation
player of the week and Associated Volleyball Coaches Association
player of the week.

“He’s the guy we’re really worried
about,” Scates said. “I just remember him as a very
explosive jumper, quick to leave the floor with a very quick
arm.”

Perez averaged 5.73 kills per game over the last three matches.
Also leading the Cougars is middle blocker Victor Batista, who
chips in with three kills per game. Sophomore Russell Holmes joins
Batista in the middle, and in every rotation the Bruins will face a
formidable blocking force. Together, Batista and Holmes combine for
over three blocks per game.

“We’ve played against them before,” junior
opposite Steve Klosterman said. “We beat them last year.
(They’re the) same guys, same team. I feel pretty confident
going in, especially playing at home this year.”

“We know how they play and how to stop them,”
redshirt senior middle blocker Nick Scheftic added.
“We’ll probably put some extra blockers up on the guys
and just roof them.”

The Bruins aren’t intimidated by the Cougars’ power
hitters or their undefeated record.

“It’s too early in the season for anybody really to
be ranked,” Scheftic said. “It’s pretty much
anybody’s game.”

In order to defeat the Cougars, UCLA needs to step up its
offense, according to Scates. Currently, UCLA is hitting .288 for
the season, but BYU is playing a notch higher at .347.

“We just have to hit smarter shots,” Klosterman
said. “We’re hitting out too much, not challenging the
block. We’re making too many errors on our side of the
net.”

Usually when UCLA visits Provo, Utah, Cougar fans pack the Smith
Fieldhouse for this big matchup. Last season, the Cougars set an
all-time attendance record when they faced the Bruins. UCLA would
love nothing more than to see that kind of enthusiasm in Pauley
this week.

“Especially on our home court, it would be nice to have
some fans our way this time,” Klosterman said. “With a
young team like ours, I think it would be good if a lot of people
showed up.”

After losing to UC Irvine in the Bruins’ first conference
match, UCLA is currently 10th in the MPSF standings.

“We need to win our home matches,” Scates said.
“We’re 0-1 in the league and we need to win it all. We
haven’t been getting any first-place votes at this point. We
have mostly first-year starters at the hitting positions, so it
would be a very big upset. But we’re capable of doing
that.”

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