I thought for sure the UCLA men’s volleyball team was
going to lose to Hawai’i this past Saturday.
Sure, the Bruins were on a nice winning streak. But
Hawai’i had a winning streak twice as long. Sure, UCLA had
the greatest coach in the history of the sport at the helm. But his
team lost 12 times during the season.
There was no way UCLA was supposed to beat mighty Hawai’i,
the No. 2-ranked team in the nation, especially at the Stan Sheriff
Center, which is known for being one of the toughest places to play
in the country.
I was wrong. I was very wrong and relearned an important lesson
I had stupidly forgotten ““ never, ever count an Al
Scates-coached team out. Never again.
So I wouldn’t put anything past the Bruins anymore. This
team can win tonight at the MPSF semifinals against No. 3
Pepperdine. This team can beat whoever it would face in the MPSF
Championship match, even if it’s No. 1 UC Irvine. And dare I
say it ““ this team can win the national championship.
Seeing Scates’ UCLA teams for the past few years, I
should’ve known better than to think the Bruins would lose.
Scates always has a trick up his sleeve. You don’t win 18
NCAA Championships by accident.
“We have a lot of talent,” Scates said. “We
have to be at our best at the end of the season, and I’ve
been playing the guys who fit together.”
That talent wasn’t always easily seen ““ while in
attendance at many of the team’s matches in the early and
middle parts of the season, I saw UCLA lose not only to the great
teams but to mediocre opponents as well.
After those losses, Scates would always tell me the same thing
““ that he and his players were focused on making it into the
conference tournament and would then have to win just six matches
in a row to win the national championship.
But that seemed unlikely. At 12-12 overall and 5-10 in MPSF
play, it looked like UCLA would be extremely fortunate just to make
it into the tournament.
I figured this team lost several players from last year’s
squad that advanced to the NCAA Championship match and I
shouldn’t make my expectations very high for this team. Just
getting to the conference tournament should have been great.
And then it happened ““ the Bruins rattled off 10 straight
wins, including the quarterfinal match against Hawai’i.
Scates was right all along. He had been preparing his team with
April and May in mind ““ not January or February.
“With this team, I auditioned every player on the
traveling squad,” Scates said. “At 12-12, I decided to
stick with one lineup.”
And he has stuck with the same lineup since, the only exception
being redshirt senior setter Dennis Gonzalez going back in the
lineup after recovering from an injury.
He put an added emphasis on strength, modifying and adding to
his team’s weight-lifting schedule by making his players lift
weights before Monday practices, which inevitably made Monday
practices shorter.
“I thought that would make us better in the long
run,” Scates said. “As we get into the fourth and fifth
games of matches, we’re still playing very well.”
In their 10-match winning streak, the Bruins have lost Game 1
four times, including a 30-18 first game against Hawai’i.
But UCLA battled back to win. The players didn’t give up.
They showed heart all year long, even when they were losing early
on. And their coach put them in a position to play their best at
the end of the year.
I’ve learned my lesson. Never will I think a team coached
by Scates will lose. Winning tonight against Pepperdine won’t
be easy. But the Bruins can do it.