NORTHRIDGE “”mdash; All season, the UCLA men’s volleyball
team has claimed it is good enough to contend for the NCAA
title.
But after months of disappointing losses, the Bruins have
overcome inexperience and injury to finally back up their claims
with dominating play.
The latest display of UCLA’s sudden resurgence on the
national radar came on Friday, when the Bruins went into a hostile
atmosphere at Cal State Northridge and soundly defeated the No. 3
Matadors.
With the 3-1 win (30-26, 17-30, 30-28, 30-20) in their final
regular season match, the Bruins now take an eight-game winning
streak into the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation playoffs.
UCLA hopes to increase that streak to 14, however, by winning
the league championship and then winning the NCAA title.
“What we’ve done lately is great, but I would really
like to finish with a 14-match winning streak,” UCLA coach Al
Scates said.
“I’ve finished seasons with 38, 32 and 29 wins in a
row before, but this one would be sweeter than all those if we
could finish out the season with all wins.
“This team has come so far from where we were to the level
we are playing at right now.”
With the win over Cal State Northridge, the No. 7 Bruins (20-12,
12-10) proved they can beat a highly ranked team, which they have
struggled to do this season.
And even though they came in with the long winning streak, the
Bruins were thought to be the underdogs.
Northridge had won three straight against the Bruins, and had a
large crowd of 1,071 cheering on the Matadors for Senior Night.
Northridge was also fighting for position in the MPSF playoffs
while the Bruins had already secured the seventh seed.
But the Bruins’ momentum proved too much for the Matadors
in Game 1, as Northridge stayed with UCLA for much of the game, but
was unable to overcome the solid hitting of the Bruins, who
received seven kills from junior Steve Klosterman and five from
senior Damien Scott.
In Game 2, the Matadors came back with a vengeance, and the
Bruins were powerless to stop the flawless Northridge attack.
Northridge hit an outstanding .629 as a team with 22 error-free
kills to give them the 30-17 win, and also served four consecutive
aces at one point.
It seemed the Bruins were once again headed for a poor finish
after a strong start, but getting crushed in the second game
provided the spark the Bruins needed.
“They came out and really beat us well, and how we
responded was a big test for us,” Klosterman said.
“That was the biggest test of the whole season for us because
we could have gotten down on ourselves, but we came back and played
well in Games 3 and 4.”
The Bruins did indeed come back strong, as both teams played at
an elite level in Game 3.
UCLA countered the .364 hitting of the Matadors by hitting at a
.361 clip of their own.
Klosterman seemed to put the team on his shoulders and
single-handedly maintained the slight Bruin lead. He had 11 of his
career-high 30 kills in the third game.
“This was definitely the best game Klosterman’s had
all season, and it’s especially significant because he had
shoulder surgery last summer,” Scates said.
“We’ve nursed Klosterman along the entire year and
he’s peaking.”
Klosterman continued to astound in the 4th game with three kills
in the first five Bruin points to give UCLA a 5-2 lead they would
only increase. Every player seemed to step up in Game 4, as Scott
also contributed eight of his 18 kills for the match and the Bruins
hit .500 as a team while holding the Matadors to .158.
“Everyone realizes that it is now or never,”
Klosterman said. “One more loss and we’re done, and
everyone on the team has that on our minds. Our mentality is that
we don’t want to lose again this season, and we showed that
against Northridge.”
With the solid win, the Bruins showed they are ready for any
team they face in the postseason, and dreams of a national
championship are no longer unreasonable.
“We knew we weren’t going to lose because we know
how good we can play,” Scott said. “Even after Game 2,
we knew we could still win, and we did. We’re playing close
to our full potential right now, and we’re going to make a
run for the championship.”