The boundaries are the same, the rules are the same and the equipment is the same, but the UCLA men’s volleyball team has yet to find success playing on the road.
Last weekend, the No. 5 UCLA men’s volleyball team was dealt its second and third straight conference road losses when it traveled to Provo, Utah, to take on No. 3 Brigham Young University, losing 3-1 on Friday and 3-0 on Saturday.
“The altitude was a factor, the fans, the gym, all of it made for a tough atmosphere,” freshman outside hitter Robart Page said. “It was actually a lot of fun though ““ had we won both games, this probably would have been my favorite place I have ever played.”
The first match, similar to the two teams’ hometown geography, was a battle of highs and lows as BYU (9-2, 6-2 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) took the first game easily, 25-17. The Bruins (7-5, 2-4) responded emphatically, beating the Cougars 25-14 in the second game thanks to some excellent play from freshman outside hitter Gonzalo Quiroga, who broke a school record by serving five aces in the second set.
“I started out the game jump-serving,” Quiroga said. “But after a while, I switched to float serves and I realized that their outside hitters weren’t very good passers, so I took advantage.”
The Bruins were unable to maintain the momentum from the second game, though, as they dropped the third in a heartbreaking 25-23 loss before being finished off 25-21 in the fourth set.
A common theme in the match was poor serving on the part of the Bruins, as they accumulated 17 service errors, which can be accredited to the high altitude, something the Bruins rarely deal with. In Saturday’s match, coach Al Scates made several adjustments to combat the altitude.
“Our problem was we couldn’t serve the ball hard here,” Scates said.
“Everything was going out in the first match, so we had to switch to the lollipop float serves in the second match just to keep the ball in.”
Scates also moved Page from outside hitter to opposite hitter in an attempt to slow down BYU’s junior opposite hitter Robb Stowell, who had 20 kills in the first match.
The Bruins dropped the first set 25-21. The Bruins rallied in the second, and even got to set point at 24-21, but the Cougars maintained calm and utilized the rowdy crowd to come back and win the set 27-25.
“We had a couple of opportunities to put them away, and we couldn’t do it,” Page said of the second set. “Some got blocked, we made some errors and we have to give them credit because they played really well at the end of that game.”
BYU rode the momentum into the third game, finishing off UCLA 25-20 to complete the sweep. Despite losing their third match in a row, the Bruins remain optimistic for the rest of the season.
“It was a really tough couple of losses, but we have a great season ahead of us,” Page said. “We’re going to keep growing together and working together, and we’ll just keep getting better.”