Pauley Pavilion is getting a little facelift for tonight’s men’s volleyball match.
UCLA coach Al Scates, in an effort to combat the team’s dismal home record, is lowering the curtain on the west end of Pauley Pavilion to create a shallower end zone for teams serving from the east side.
With the off-center court in Pauley, there is a deeper end zone on the west side. Serving east to west creates depth perception problems, which the Bruins have been unable to get used to because they practice in SAC and not Pauley. Scates feels this has contributed to their 3-5 home record.
“We’re going to make it smaller,” Scates said. “Last season we did it regularly and for some reason this season we just left it open.”
With the restructured court in Pauley Pavilion, the No. 6 Bruins (9-8) will take a break from their conference schedule to host the road-tested No. 15 Lewis Flyers (10-3) tonight.
Though the Flyers are among the original volleyball powerhouses, the Bruins have beat them each of the past two years and are 13-3 against them all-time.
However, Scates said that he is taking this match as he would any other conference match. After suffering a pair of sweeps against lower-ranked opponents last week, Scates said this week’s practice will take the Bruins back to fundamentals.
“We need to work on scoring when we’re serving. Our block needs to get quicker,” Scates said. “We need to back up our hitters. We’re just going to really concentrate on our fundamentals and try to beat these people.”
Quick hitter Nick Vogel said the team had a big wake-up call after last week’s sweeps and wants to make sure they are “completely ready to play” Lewis tonight.
“The past week we focused a lot on standard blocking, where to hit, where to take approach lines,” Vogel said.
Vogel is one of the main players Scates has been working with. After the sophomore hit just .077 against Long Beach State, Scates said he plans on trying a new set on him. After reviewing film, however, Scates decided Vogel is getting up late on sets.
“I just want him to get up quicker,” Scates said. “He’s only hitting about .300 efficiency and if he gets up quicker I think he’ll be hitting about .400 because what’s happening is, by the time he gets to the ball, I don’t think he sees the block.”
Vogel added that he and the rest of the quick hitters have been working on their timing with both setters, sophomore Kyle Caldwell and senior Kevin Ker. Given their six-inch height difference, Vogel said the quick hitters have had some adjusting to do.
The Bruins have also had problems with a revolving door at the second outside hitter spot. In Friday’s loss, Scates played redshirt sophomores Jeremy Casebeer and Ryan Jagd, freshman Chen Levitan and sophomore Mitchel Johnson at H2.
Redshirt junior Dylan Bowermaster has been suffering from a virus and has not practiced this week. Casebeer will get the start tonight.
“I want to go with a longer leash on Casebeer,” Scates said.
Casebeer is hitting .252 with 1.95 kills per set.
In addition, Scates plans on keeping Levitan available as a serving substitute and will dress Johnson and freshman Jack Mergenthaler as backups.