The start to the 2009 men’s volleyball season has been slow to say the least.
Tonight, No. 8 UCLA (1-3, 0-1 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) will host No. 9 UC Santa Barbara (2-2, 0-1 MPSF) at Pauley Pavilion in the second MPSF game of the year.
The Bruins are coming in having lost three of four games. Two of those losses were to Cal State Northridge, the most recent coming on Wednesday.
“It was a tough game, and I think we all are going to use it to band together and try to come out and play a lot better next time,” redshirt freshman opposite Jack Polales said.
Polales was the only bright spot in the defeat, recording 13 kills and six digs in his second collegiate start.
UCLA was ranked No. 2 to start the year but fell quickly to No. 8 after the Elephant Bar Tournament in Santa Barbara.
“We just have to work really hard right now,” coach Al Scates said. “We’re not among the elite teams and at the end of the year, if we work hard, we are going to be ready to beat everybody. But right now we’ve really got a lot of work to do.”
Despite beating the Gauchos earlier in the season at the South Atlantic Conference tournament, the Bruins know this match or any other in the MPSF will not be an easy one.
“Everyone in our conference is a worthy opponent, and we’re UCLA so they’re going to get up for playing us,” Polales said. “So if we don’t come out and match their fire we’re going to have a hard time going out and winning.”
UCSB came in third in the Elephant Bar Tournament by upsetting No. 4 Long Beach State. The Gauchos then dropped their first conference game Wednesday to No. 5 UC Irvine.
Santa Barbara is led by sophomore outside hitter Jeff Menzel, who had 18 kills in the win against Long Beach and 21 kills in 46 attempts against Irvine.
UCLA is still looking for someone to fill in the hole at the libero position; players are being shuffled in and out in order to find a lineup that works. Freshman Jamey Ker took over the position for Wednesday’s game.
“We’re looking at a lot of different people still and when I get the right lineup I’ll know what it is,” Scates said. “But I haven’t seen it yet.”
Against Northridge, UCLA had a low hitting percentage, including -.033 in the first set. The team hit .148 over the entire match with 21 errors.
“I think we’re going to have to put more balls down and keep more balls in because we had a few too many hitting errors (on Wednesday) for sure,” Polales said.
For the team, a day between games and reviewing film will allow time to regroup and get back to their winning ways.
I think it’s just going to take hard work and practice,” Polales said. “There’s no substitute for that. Our team is going to work together and get more pumped up. We’ll start playing a lot better.”