When the Bruins line up to face Indiana-Purdue Fort Wayne in the
NCAA semifinals at Penn State today, there will certainly be a
representation of the dichotomy between East Coast and West Coast
volleyball. The No. 3-seeded Mastodons, representing the Midwestern
Intercollegiate Volleyball Association, will be playing only their
fifth match against a ranked team this season, while the No.
2-seeded Bruins have played three of the top five teams in the
nation in just the past two weeks. In fact, the Mastodons are 0-6
against West Coast teams. Despite UCLA’s far superior
strength of schedule and talent, the Bruins (24-12) will not be
overlooking the Mastodons (23-6). “We’ve looked at a
little tape and they look good,” UCLA coach Al Scates said.
“They’re a good blocking team, awful good opposite,
really good middles. “They look like the real thing to
us.” The Bruins certainly have reason to be mindful of the
Mastodons. Not only have the Mastodons won 21 of their past 22
matches after starting the season 2-5, but the Bruins have shown
the ability to slip up against lower-ranked teams this season,
losing to unranked USC and Ohio State. Even more, the Mastodons are
one of the top blocking teams in the nation, featuring
6-foot-7-inch middle blocker Serdar Sikca and 6-foot-4-inch
opposite hitter CJ Macias. “It is no secret that blocking is
one of our strongest areas, and we need to establish our
blocking,” Sikca said. “I’m sure they are going
to try and run a quick offense, and we need to establish our
serving in order to set up a good block.” For the Bruins,
winners of 12 straight matches, to combat the Mastodons’
blocking, they will need consistent performances from the players
who have carried them during their winning streak ““ Paul
George, Steve Klosterman and Nick Scheftic. All three led the team
in hitting during the recent Mountain Pacific Sports Federation
tournament. “(The hitters) are playing their best ball of the
year and that’s how you get here,” Scates said.
“We need the same from them (today).” But in the end,
the Bruins have more than today’s match on their minds. They
know they can complete the unthinkable if they win just two more
matches. They, after all, became the lowest seed ever to win the
MPSF tournament and also became the first team ever to play four
matches and win the tournament. “We’re coming here to
win and we all have one goal in mind,” sophomore libero Tony
Ker said. “I think we deserve to be here just as much as
everyone else does.”
WELL-TESTED: The Bruins’ lineup that will face IPFW in the
NCAA semifinals at Penn State today will be a little road weary, to
say the least. The team has traveled more than 6,000 miles in the
past three weeks and will be playing in their third time zone. But
to the Bruins, that could have very little meaning right now.
“Yeah, we’re a little tired,” junior opposite
Klosterman said after last Saturday’s MPSF tournament
victory. “But we’re in the NCAA Championships, and we
have worked all season to get here. “We have no excuse for
rest.” If UCLA wins, they’ll play the winner of the UC
Irvine v. Penn State match in the championship on Saturday at 4
p.m.