This weekend holds a grab bag of goodies for men’s volleyball fans.
With 30 players to choose from, coach Al Scates will be doing a lot of mixing and matching during Friday and Saturday’s third annual preseason tournament held at the Student Activities Center. The tournament begins today at 4 p.m. against Long Beach State.
“There are two full teams on each (practice) court,” Scates said. “We’ve been at 30 (players) for a number of years because it’s the only way you can have a full practice on each court. If you’re under that number you’re doing drills all the time and you’re not able to scrimmage.”
And except for two players with injuries, Scates plans on playing every single one of the other 28 players over the course of the three-match tournament, in which they will face Long Beach State, UC Santa Barbara and Cal State Northridge.
By having everyone on the court in game-time situations, the coaches will be able to assess the players’ abilities and sort out a rough starting lineup, though there has been much competitiveness in practice already.
“I had a first team and they were starting to dominate, but the second team won a short match, two out of three,” Scates said.
“All of the games were close, which means I probably don’t have the starting lineup yet,” he added.
Despite the absence of Paul George and Steve Klosterman, who both graduated, there has been little trouble filling in the gaps.
The upcoming season will showcase one of the Bruins’ deepest lineups in years, and this weekend will provide a peek into that roster.
Returning starters libero Tony Ker, setter Kevin Ker and outside hitter Garrett Muagututia are currently edging out their competitors at their respective positions, while redshirt sophomore D.J. Stromath and true freshman Weston Dunlap tentatively hold strong in the middle.
Rounding out the current first team is last season’s quick hitter Brett Perrine, who had been switching between the opposite and middle positions.
“Perrine looks good there (at opposite),” Scates said. “We knew he was an outside hitter last year, but when (middle blocker) Jamie Diefenbach played basketball in the fall, we moved Perrine into that spot. But this is his real position.”
The names of the players giving the starters a run for their money would make for a long list, but some may see considerable playing time if they continue to be aggressive and push competitively.
Topping the list are opposite Sean O’Malley, outsides Jeff Woodley and Jeremy Casebeer, and quick hitter James Scilacci.
They will get a chance to show what they have this weekend.
But in the end, this tournament will be a learning experience for both the coaches and the players.
“We’re going to videotape the three matches because I want everybody looking at themselves,” Scates said. “We’ve been telling them for five weeks what they’ve been doing but it’s about time they actually saw.”