Volleyball looks like a blast from the past

After Friday’s win, members of the UCLA men’s volleyball team were struck by the resemblance this season has shown with that of the 2006 national-championship squad.

Just before breaking for finals, the 2005-2006 Bruins were looking at a 5-10 conference record. The Bruins then buckled down to take 14 straight matches, including a sweep of Penn State in the national championship.

“This team reminds me a lot of the team in 2006, that we were the seventh seed going into the playoffs and ended up winning the whole thing,” redshirt senior quick hitter Jamie Diefenbach said. “This is the right time of year to start peaking.”

Diefenbach, along with current senior setter Matt Wade and senior opposite Sean O’Malley, were significant contributors to the 2006 squad.

Playing Pepperdine and USC this week, the Bruins will face the teams with the first- and fourth- best records in the conference, respectively.

Coach Al Scates agreed that with two major contributors returning for the Bruins, the late-season conditions of this team are similar to those of the national-championship squad.

“I can see us getting better,” Scates said. “We just took the momentum away (against Hawai’i).”

HASTINGS AND DIEFENBACH RETURN: With the regular season coming to a close, two valuable players played for the first time all season the past two weeks.

Sophomore libero Tom Hastings sat out all of winter quarter due to academic ineligibility and was unavailable to practice for most of March with mononucleosis. Hastings played his first matches of the season last week against Hawai’i.

“After one week of practice, he looks solid to me,” Scates said.

Diefenbach, a second-team All-MPSF honoree and starting quick hitter from last year, returned to the Bruins after a season on the men’s basketball team.

With freshmen Thomas Amberg and Nick Vogel and redshirt senior D.J. Stromath shouldering the load of the quick-hitter position, Diefenbach’s return adds an extra dimension to the Bruin squad.

“We have tremendous depth in the middle now,” Scates said.

Diefenbach returned over spring break and appeared in the Bruin loss to BYU March 28. Since returning, players have noticed an overall increase of energy in the team.

“He brings his energy everywhere he goes,” O’Malley said.

Despite the return of two key players, the Bruins will be redshirting sophomore quick hitter Weston Dunlap this season. The Bruins will also be without freshman opposite Kyle Caldwell who will sit out the rest of the season with a thumb injury.

“We don’t have everybody we thought we would have,” Scates said. “But it’s getting a lot better.”

AROUND THE MPSF: Also facing off Wednesday night, UC Irvine will battle USC. The Trojans are trying to solidify home-court advantage in the quarterfinals of the conference tournament, and the Anteaters are still vying for the top seed in the tournament. The No. 1 seed will host the tournament’s semifinals and finals if they advance that far.

UC Irvine’s win over host BYU puts them just a half-match behind Pepperdine who has been dominating the MPSF this season. UCLA will host the Waves on Wednesday.

Stanford took two wins this weekend to come into a tie for fourth with USC. The Bruins will host their final home match of the season against the Trojans.

With their split with UCI this past weekend, BYU has now clinched a playoff spot. They are the sixth team to clinch one of the eight spots in the MPSF Tournament which begins April 25.

In men’s volleyball, the NCAA tournament consists only of a Final Four. Three of the spots are dedicated to each of the conference champions and the final spot is an at-large bid given by committee. Because of this structure, a tournament championship is especially valuable.

The Bruins are currently seventh in the MPSF, and only eight teams from the conference will make the conference tournament.

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