If there’s something the men’s volleyball team
learned from Wednesday’s loss to Pepperdine, it was that
Steve Klosterman had the hot hand. But UCLA wasn’t the only
one in on its new secret weapon. UCLA fed the ball to the junior
opposite hoping he would carry the team to victory, but UC Irvine
caught on to the Bruins’ game plan and swept them for the
first time ever on Friday night, 31-29, 30-27, 30-25. UCLA fell to
10-9 (5-7 MPSF), while the Anteaters extended their winning streak
to nine games and improved to 15-3 (10-2). The Bruins knew they
could rely on Klosterman’s arm for a steady supply of kills,
but going into the match, UCLA coach Al Scates knew he had to have
the other outside hitters and quick hitters rise for the occasion
on offense as well. But help from the outside never came. With
Damien Scott stepping up defensively but not converting
offensively, and Paul George playing through a sore elbow, the
Bruins were in trouble. “Klosterman was hitting some good
shots and moving (the ball) around, but George, most of the time,
was going up and banging it into the block,” Scates said.
“We need to rely on somebody besides Steve,” redshirt
senior middle blocker Nick Scheftic said. “I think as a team
we need to hit a little harder and get our passes up to the net. In
the third game there were probably only a couple of perfect passes
that we could set the middle.” But the middle attack also
failed to convert points. In previous matches, the Bruins could
rely on their middles to slam down easy kills and open up the
outside attack. But on Friday, Scheftic, David Russell and Jamie
Diefenbach all had trouble finding a rhythm. “It was
discouraging to set the middle when the (Anteaters) were jumping
with them all the time,” Klosterman said. “We
couldn’t convert when we had the opportunities with our
middles.” There was an obvious difference in the middle
attack Friday. The quick hitters weren’t connecting with the
sets or getting solid contact on the ball, which resulted in many
mishits which were picked up by the Irvine defense. Part of the
problem could have stemmed from freshman setter Matt Wade’s
unfamiliarity with the middles and his collegiate inexperience.
According to Scates, Wade needs verbal help from his middles to be
able to set effectively and with precise timing. “At the end
of the game I know Scheftic was up for a perfect back-one, and I
didn’t even hear him say anything. And of course the setter
can’t see him because he’s chasing the ball down and
the hitter’s behind him; a rookie setter is just looking at
the ball all along,” Scates said. Without production from the
middle, UCLA relied heavily on its outsides. However, of the five
players rotated in and out of the match, only Klosterman was
consistent, with 18 kills. But he wasn’t without opposition.
“Finally, Klosterman was faced with three blockers and two
blockers because they realized he was the only one putting the ball
away,” Scates said. “They finally caught up to
him.” Despite Klosterman leading all players in kills, Irvine
held him to a .262 hitting average, much lower than his .511
performance against Pepperdine.
SEALY LEAVING: UCLA assistant coach Mike Sealy,
who is in his fourth year in Westwood, has been hired as the new
Hawai’i associate head coach.