It can be remembered as the match that began the UCLA men’s volleyball team’s incredible run for the national championship.
The television coverage, the rivalry and the determination to win all united March 17, 2006 when the Bruins hosted crosstown rival USC in its annual Kilgour Cup. And after that momentous day, UCLA, which at the time had a record of 5-10 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, never looked back, winning all of its next 14 matches to take the NCAA title.
The No. 5 Bruins (3-5, 1-4 MPSF) sure could use another spark like that one, and they are hoping it might come in similar form at Saturday night’s 30th annual Kilgour Cup against No. 14 USC held in Pauley Pavilion.
“(The Kilgour Cup win last year) was amazing,” junior libero Tony Ker said. “That was the start of the run. That was a great win for us. It really got the team sparked up, and it would be nice to do it again this year.”
And there’s no better way to light a fire under a Bruin than to mention a Trojan.
“Maybe (the Kilgour Cup) is what it takes (to get us rolling),” Ker said. “If that’s what it takes, then I’m all for it. I feel like we’re starting to depend on coming back late in the game and we can’t do that. We have to come out strong against ‘SC.”
The Bruins can shoot right out of the barrel all they want, but to keep them going, they are calling for support to help them sustain their firepower and energy throughout the match. The team felt let down after Wednesday night’s subdued attendance of 648. Pepperdine’s supporters, on the other hand, made their presence known, often overpowering UCLA cheers. At the end of Game 5, Bruin team captain Paul George turned toward the crowd, raised his arms, and yelled at them to make some noise and match the intensity of the Wave fans.
“I was a little disappointed (with the crowd Wednesday), especially since it was the first home match and we’re defending national champions,” Ker said. “You’d think that there’d be a few more people here or even the people that were here would be a little louder, especially at the end of Game 5 when it’s real close. There just wasn’t a whole lot of energy in the gym.”
In addition to the lackluster attendance, the Bruins are also feeling the pressure of their dismal 1-4 conference record, and are hoping to turn that around starting with their favorite team to beat, USC.
“We’re 1-4 in the league and we need to start winning,” UCLA coach Al Scates said. “We’re trying to replace four senior starters and you have a schedule like this ““ it’s tough. I can see improvement, but we have to win these types of matches. We gotta be better.”
And the Bruins will channel all their emotions into this match in hopes of kickstarting their season and putting it into full gear.
“This is the first year I’ve really felt that hatred toward USC,” George said. “I want to go out there and smoke them this year. I wanna absolutely pound on them. Some guys on (the USC team) don’t say some nice things about our team. A lot of teams haven’t given us a lot of respect right now, and worst of all you don’t want ‘SC doing that. We’re gonna come out firing for sure.”
FILLING PAULEY: Saturday’s match against USC is also The Den’s “Go-Den Game” of the week. To help fill the seats, The Den will be passing out free sandwiches to the first 100 students wearing their Den T-shirts.
Also, fans, not including students who already get into volleyball matches free with their BruinCard, may mention this “buy-one-get-one-free” promotion at the box office Saturday in order to receive a second ticket of equal or lesser value for free.
And basketball fans who attended either last week’s men’s basketball games against Arizona State or Arizona, or tonight’s women’s basketball match against Washington, can use their ticket stub to get into the USC volleyball match for free as well.