Going into Wednesday night’s match, the UCLA men’s
volleyball team felt it needed a win more than ever. An atypically
mediocre start to the season had left the team with a losing record
in conference play.
So the Bruins came out and played like a team that needed to
win. They were dominant in beating UC Santa Barbara 3-0 (30-22,
30-21, 30-26) at Pauley Pavilion.
“We’re gaining momentum,” UCLA outside hitter
Paul George said. “We’ve come back and won some games
that were tough. This is what we need to do, to come in here and
make it happen.”
No. 10 UCSB had to face No. 7 UCLA without its star player, Evan
Patak, who missed his fourth straight match.
Without Patak, UCSB hit a measly .051 for the match, a mark
extremely rare for an entire match.
“It would have been a terrible loss for us today (without
Patak),” UCLA coach Al Scates said. “We had prepared
our whole game plan around stopping him.”
It was a team effort for the Bruins against the Gauchos. No one
player stood out, as no one had 10 or more kills. Five different
players had at least five kills, and George led the team with nine.
Even setter Matt Wade had four kills from a position that
doesn’t normally see many hitting opportunities.
“We did everything pretty well that we had failed to do in
our losses,” freshman Ian Jackson said. “We served
pretty well, we passed well, we got some blocks, and we played
defense.”
The Bruins came out strong right out of the gate.
Freshmen Jackson and Wade hadn’t seen much playing time
all year until recently, but both started and played most of the
match.
“Jackson got into some hitting and passing problems (in
Game 3) and then started running off a bunch of points with his
serve,” Scates said. “He hit a little bad spot, but he
played well in Games 1 and 2 and I liked him.”
“Matt Wade played great,” Scates added. “I was
really happy with him.”
UCLA (7-5, 2-3 MPSF) got off to a quick start against UCSB (6-7,
4-5) in Game 1, leading by as much as 10. The same happened in Game
2, when the Bruins led by as much as 11.
Game 3 was close and tied as late as 26-26, but a rally with
Jackson serving closed out the match.
Defensively, Tony Ker and Steve Klosterman shined, recording 14
and 11 digs, respectively. Ker compiled 14 despite being subbed in
and out frequently in Scates’ rotation.
“Tony Ker really dug some great balls,” Scates said.
“Fourteen digs in three games is pretty
incredible.”
The Bruins play again on Friday, when they face Cal State
Northridge in Pauley Pavilion at 7 p.m.