Tonight’s and Saturday’s matches will be a goodbye in so many ways for the men’s volleyball team.
The seniors will be sent off in their last Friday night home match. It is a group that includes Garrett Muagututia and Kevin Ker, who have played considerably throughout their four years as Bruins.
Saturday, the Bruins will play their last home match of 2010. With Pauley Pavilion scheduled to close its doors for renovation in spring 2011, this weekend may well be the last season-closing weekend in Pauley until 2013.
But most importantly, the Bruins are hoping to say goodbye to their recent inconsistent play and enter next week’s Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Tournament with some momentum.
“I don’t want to limp into the playoffs like the Lakers are doing,” said coach Al Scates, laughing before adding, more seriously, “I want my team to have some momentum. I want two good games this weekend.”
The No. 7 Bruins (15-12, 10-10 MPSF) will have a shot at entering next week’s conference playoffs on a high note tonight against No. 1 Stanford (18-5, 15-5) and Saturday against conference caboose Pacific (8-20, 0-20).
The Cardinal enter the match having won 11 of their last 12 matches and are near the end of one of their best seasons in recent memory. UCLA, on the other hand, is struggling to build a consistent lineup after several weeks of shaky play from their starters.
“Well it’s not good, it’s not good,” said Scates of the inconsistent lineup. “We prefer to have a set lineup where people come out and play all night. Back when I had teams 38-0 you didn’t see teams with a lot of lineup changes. That’s not been the case (this year).”
The seventh-place Bruins are at just .500 in conference and have secured a playoff spot, but are fighting to land a more favorable No. 6 seed.
The Bruins are focused, however, on this weekend’s matches and gaining momentum for the tournament.
“The match against Stanford is huge because most likely we’re going to see them in the playoffs either in our league playoffs or NCAA playoffs,” Ker said. “(We will) use it as a little stepping stone and hopefully we can start off well and end up pulling out a victory.”
Ker, who has split time at setter with sophomore Kyle Caldwell, has emerged as the team’s starter for the rest of the season with Caldwell ruled academically ineligible for spring quarter.
Ker’s Cardinal counterpart, senior Kawika Shoji, is one of the fastest setters in the conference and is ranked second with 13.86 sets per game. Scates said Shoji’s speed and unpredictability can be combated by tough serving to get Stanford out of system.
“We’ve got to serve 80 percent of the balls in and tough,” Scates said. “I don’t mean 80 percent lollipops. I mean we’ve got to serve tough and force Stanford to make bad passes.”
Scates also pointed out the Bruins have beat No. 1 teams before. Their last victim? Cal State Northridge in a sweep at home on Jan. 22.
And despite Pacific having yet to beat an MPSF team since Jan. 31, 2008, UCLA players and coaches maintained that the Tigers will present a challenge, citing Pacific’s five-set match at USC on April 9.
“They’re a really good team, even though their record doesn’t show it, but they can beat anybody,” Ker said. “So we’ve got to come with the same fire, the same intensity.”
Inactive list grows
Redshirt sophomore outside hitter Jeremy Casebeer suffered a torn meniscus at Wednesday’s practice and will require surgery. He is out for the season. Redshirt sophomore quick hitter Weston Dunlap will likely sit out this weekend with an ankle sprain. Redshirt freshman opposite Craig McGowan, who played Saturday at UCSD, has been out from practice this week with shoulder issues.
With reports by Vidur Malik, Bruin Sports contributor.