After a thrilling match against Cal Baptist on Wednesday night, UCLA men’s volleyball hopes to ride its momentum into its last big matchup of the regular season tonight against second-ranked UC Irvine.
Although coming out of a different league in the NAIA, Cal Baptist showed off its talent and depth against fourth-ranked UCLA on Wednesday night, taking the Bruins to five games. Although two of these games were blowouts in the Lancers’ favor, the Bruins were able to close it out when it mattered and defeated the Lancers 30-23, 22-30, 30-23, 20-30, and 15-11.
Senior captain Paul George believes this game was just what the Bruins needed going into the match against the Anteaters.
“We (played) a great team before we’re playing Irvine (today),” George said. “The fact that we beat a great team shows that we can beat great teams.”
UCI certainly qualifies as a great team, and UCLA has already been swept twice by the Anteaters this season. Their roster is loaded with talent, including two senior All-American outside hitters in Jayson Jablonsky and Matt Webber, both of whom average eight kills a game this season. Middles David Smith and Aaron Harrell present possibly the greatest blocking threat in the country, and on top of that, setter Brian Thornton is nationally ranked with 13.1 assists per game. The Bruins will need to focus on all of these players to come away with the win.
“They’re all good,” UCLA coach Al Scates said. “They’ve got four seniors. … They’ve been playing with each other for a long time. We’re learning to play with each other well, with three freshmen starters, and we’re getting better. We’re not at their level yet … but we’re getting better.”
The Bruins may have a lot on their hands, but they are confident that being at home will work to their advantage; they have won 10 straight in Pauley Pavilion.
“We’re doing well (at home) lately,” George said. “We haven’t lost here in a long time and it definitely helps serving at home. Playing home is good; we’re excited and we hope we get a big crowd.”
Despite having a cold game against Cal Baptist, senior Steve Klosterman still remains the hot hitter for the Bruins, averaging around 4 kills a game. George is coming off a strong match with 15 kills and currently averages over 3 kills per game.
Most impressively, redshirt freshman Brett Perrine had a career-high match with 20 points, 15 kills and a 0.667 clip, and hopes to repeat his stellar performance again tonight. But Perrine knows it will take a solid team effort if the Bruins want to come away with the victory tonight.
“We just have to be ready,” Perrine said. “We were not ready last time we played them. We came out really flat, really slow, and they just jumped all over us. … Being at home is definitely going to help. Hopefully a lot of people will come out, support us, and hopefully we get a better outcome than last time.”
PROMOTIONAL OFFER: UCLA volleyball bike bottles will be given out to the first 500 fans who attend the UCLA men’s volleyball game against UCI tonight in Pauley Pavilion.