The rivalry game against No. 11 USC brought out a lot of things Wednesday night.
With it came the hype ““ the TV cameras, a few of UCLA’s greatest volleyball players, and a fire burning within the Trojan team.
But the No. 4 Bruins (8-4, 5-3 MPSF) just could not handle the pressure.
With volleyball greats Jeff Nygaard, Karch Kiraly, and Jonathan Acosta in attendance, the Bruins failed to live up to their predecessors’ legacy, and failed to keep up with the Trojans (6-6, 5-4).
UCLA fell in straight sets Wednesday night, 24-30, 24-30, 24-30, giving its crosstown rival a season series sweep.
“Karch Kiraly ““ competitor; Sinjin Smith ““ competitor,” libero Tony Ker said, listing the former Bruins acknowledged at the match. “They would get … pissed if stuff wasn’t going well and there’s nobody on the team like that right now. We need more passion.”
The current varsity squad certainly did not play like the Bruin teams of the past, who have accumulated 19 NCAA championship titles.
UCLA was simply outplayed Wednesday, trailing the Trojans in every statistical category that mattered. Outhit, outblocked, outdug ““ nothing went right for the Bruins. Everything fell USC’s way.
One word to describe the match?
“Awful,” Ker said. “We had awful effort, awful execution. No one could put a ball down. Everyone was missing their assignments. It was just a complete lack of effort. We were … awful and you can quote me on that.”
“Unfocused,” said middle blocker D.J. Stromath, who was the only Bruin to hit above .200 on the night. “Our main problem was not executing the game plan. We haven’t done that the whole year, just going for balls, covering the hitter, making serves, just trying to cut down on the errors.”
Indeed, it was an error-plagued night for UCLA.
And with no one for setter Matt Wade to turn to, backup Kevin Ker was brought in at the end of Game 2 to change up the offense.
But even that could not save the Bruins at that point.
“I think bringing Kevin in was the right move at the time,” Tony Ker said. “He brought more energy and more passion than Wade did.
“But this team’s a lot different than any other team because we don’t have the guys that are going to come off the bench and go balls out like it’s their final chance.”
Energy and anger lacked among the Bruins on the court, and the players were unable to ever get out of its funk.
“It’s always frustrating when you’re playing well and you’re trying to get everybody fired up,” said Stromath, who hit .667 in Game 1, but fell to .000 in Game 3. “It’s hard to do that and you want your other teammates to play just as well as you, but sometimes it doesn’t happen.”
The loss was especially painful for the Bruins because they lost at USC just 10 days ago on Jan. 26. The last time the Bruins went an entire season without beating their crosstown rivals was eight years ago in 2000. But in that year UCLA only lost to the Trojans in one match, not two.
“Right now we have too many guys that are too afraid to make a mistake,” Ker said. “It just seems like no one wants to be out there. Game day should be the most exciting day of the career of an athlete, and that is not how anybody on our team acts right now.
“We need to go out there and play like our life depends on it every time. That’s what great teams were made of. That’s what all the great teams back in the day, back in the UCLA legacy.”
The Bruins will have a chance to prove themselves this Saturday when they take on No. 2 Pepperdine in Pauley Pavilion.