Looking at the men’s volleyball team’s record after
this weekend’s play won’t paint an accurate picture of
what the defending national champions are capable of.
The Bruins came out of the weekend’s preseason tournament
1-2 with a four-game loss to UC Irvine (30-21, 30-25, 30-32,
30-24), a five-game victory over UC Santa Barbara (27-30, 21-30,
30-23, 30-28, 15-12) and a heart-wrenching five-game defeat to Cal
State Northridge (26-30, 30-26, 30-26, 26-30, 15-12). The Gauchos
concluded the tournament on top with a record of 2-1.
But the outcome of UCLA’s matches were the result of an
unexpected assembly of fresh faces.
Returning starters Paul George, Tony Ker and Steve Klosterman
intermingled with true freshmen, as well as with players who have
just barely made it onto the first court.
Noticeably missing were projected starters Jamie Diefenbach, who
is practicing with the UCLA basketball team until at least
December, Matt Wade, who is being held out of fall competition for
breaking a team rule, and Sean O’Malley, who sprained his
wrist in practice.
"The chemistry at first wasn’t clicking that well, but we
did pretty well getting it back together, playing together as a
team,” Klosterman said. "(Irvine) was our first real actual
match.”
“(The freshmen) are a little bit out of their element,
because they haven’t played at this level yet,” Ker
said. “But for us just throwing them in there, I think
they’re doing a great job.”
Thus, the load fell on the shoulders of Garrett Muagututia,
Cooper O’Connor, Shaun Nichols and Brett Perrine in
Friday’s match against Irvine to fill the remaining four
starting spots. True freshmen Kent Kraushaar and Kevin Ker also
racked up valuable court time. None of these players has ever
suited up in a Bruin uniform prior to this weekend. Coach Al Scates
also got the chance to test all 15 of his players this weekend
against top Division I competition.
“It gives me a good idea of what they can do when I see
them against other teams,” Scates said.
“It was the first time out there playing, so it was a good
welcome to Division I volleyball,” Muagututia said, who added
18 kills in the team’s win over the Gauchos.
Muagututia, who just recently made the switch from middle
blocker to outside hitter, made tremendous improvement over the
course of the weekend.
“(Friday was) the first time Garrett ever passed a ball at
this level of competition, so he hasn’t seen serves like this
before,” Scates said. “(But over the weekend) Garrett
really improved his passing. He passed really well (Saturday).
He’s beginning to improve his blocking and his front-court
hitting.”
In Game 2 of the Santa Barbara match, O’Connor, the
third-string setter behind Wade and senior Beau Peters, sprained
his right ankle. Kevin Ker, Tony’s younger brother, picked up
right where O’Connor left off and filled in for the rest of
Saturday’s play.
“Just like every other freshman, you got a little jitters
out there,” Kevin Ker said. “Other than that, it was a
very good experience. You get to see what it’s like to play
at such a high level of volleyball.”
But time will only tell how good the national champions will
truly be once the roster is restored to order.
“It’s hard to tell (what we’re capable of)
until we get our starting setter back,” Scates said. "Our
side-out offense is going to be a lot better than what we saw."