Making an early impact

His family drives nearly 100 miles from Oceanside to Westwood to see him play.

There is a throng of friends and family members, as many as 30 or 40 at one point, who come every match to see outside hitter Garrett Muagututia suit up as a Bruin. And rightfully so.

Though only a true freshman, Muagututia has already made quite an impact on the defending National Champion UCLA volleyball team, acclimating quite well to the collegiate game since coming straight out of Francis Parker High School. He’s third on the team in kills per game, with 3.22, behind seniors Steve Klosterman and Paul George. Muagututia has 1.53 digs per game, trailing only libero Tony Ker.

“He’s always been a very polished volleyball player,” said assistant coach Brian Rofer, who had been watching and waiting to recruit Muagututia for a while. “There are very few that come out of high school at the level that he plays at.”

A middle blocker throughout the majority of his high school and club careers, Muagututia made the switch to the outside in his final year on the Seaside Volleyball Club. Though Muagututia was recruited and planned to be used as a middle blocker for UCLA, coach Al Scates made the decision to place the Volleyball Magazine First Team All-American at his new and permanent home on the left side.

“He’s going to be an outside his whole career (at UCLA),” Scates said. “He passes and hits the ball too well. He hits well out of the backcourt, too. He does a lot of things well enough to keep him in all the way around.”

Yet the lessons learned and the many years spent as a quick hitter have only aided Muagututia in his new position. At times he finds himself in familiar territory, slipping behind the middle blocker, either Jamie Diefenbach or Brett Perrine, and lunging out from behind for a kill in what is called the “X.” His greatest adrenaline rushes come from such convincing kills as these.

“I love the X because it’s kind of like a surprise play,” Muagututia said smiling. “Most of the time it leaves me with no blockers up or one blocker up. I think the thing that helps me the best from being middle blocker is the getting off the ground quick, because middles always have to be quick to get the 1s (sets to the middle).”

“G,” as his teammates call him, started out rough in his first two career matches as a Bruin, when the team took on Brigham Young University. Best friend and teammate Dylan Bowermaster was even given the starting nod instead of Muagututia.

But soon after, a fire was lit under Muagututia and he became the Bruins’ most reliable hitter.

His most memorable match, Muagututia said, was against UC Santa Barbara in January, when he put up a career-high 22 kills against the Gauchos. He went on to lead the team in kills for the following four matches as well.

But with such immodest numbers, only humble words come out of the freshman’s mouth when talking about his game. He defers self-recognition and advances the success of the team.

“Just being able to play at the Division I collegiate level for volleyball, in any sport for that matter, is a great experience,” he said. “I just do whatever I can do to contribute to the team and hope everything goes well. I feel like we as a team are playing well together. And I think as long as we’re winning and playing well as a team, that’s all that matters.”

Like the praise coaches give many of their promising young athletes, talk about Muagututia’s potential is nothing short of great expectations. Filling the outside hitter spot vacated by last season’s captain, Damien Scott, looked foreboding until the Oceanside native proved himself on the court back in November’s preseason competition.

“Damien Scott played great at the end of the year,” Scates said. “Right now Garrett is on track to play as well as Damien. His hitting and blocking are improving right now. I would say that he has a chance to play up to that level.”

After going through another rough patch in the middle of the season, Muagututia has begun to find his groove again. And his success, combined with the overall improvement of the team, could lead the Bruins to a repeat miracle closing-out of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation season.

“His last two matches have been quite strong,” Scates said. “He’d been trying to avoid the block too much in his earlier play, but now he’s learning to challenge the block and so now I think his hitting efficiency is going to go up now for the rest of the season.”

“For a freshman to come in and carry the load that he carries, I would say he’s having a pretty good freshman year,” Rofer said. “But he doesn’t look like a true freshman out there.”

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