As it stands now, the UCLA men’s volleyball team is stuck in the middle of the tangled knot that is the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. The best volleyball conference in the nation, it may also be the most troublesome to rank from top to bottom. Consequently for the Bruins, every game matters, and every win or loss can have a significant impact on both the conference standings and national rankings.
“The fact of the matter is that it’s a tight conference and every single game is going to be close. Every single game needs to come with a level of urgency,” said junior middle blocker Spencer Rowe.
No. 7 UCLA (10-8, 6-6) won two out of three games over Presidents Day weekend, splitting games against No. 11 Hawai’i (5-9, 4-7) on Friday and Saturday before sweeping No. 9 USC (3-7, 3-7) in business-like fashion on Monday night.
Despite ending the weekend on a winning note, the Bruins could’ve had three in a row. After sweeping Hawai’i on Friday, UCLA let 1-0 and 2-1 set leads slip away in what was ultimately a five-set loss against the same Hawai’i team on Saturday.
“This was about them being better and us not improving as much as they did, that’s what it comes down to,” said coach John Speraw after the loss.
Everything was in place on Saturday night for the Bruins to win consecutive games for the first time in over a month, but instead the Bruins found themselves taking a step back.
“I wanted to win them both. I wasn’t happy with (our performance),” Speraw said. “I’m not happy with our progress so far; we have to make some significant strides if we have hopes of achieving our goals.”
A significant stride may have been Monday night, in what was probably the team’s best offensive performance of the year. The Bruins had a hitting percentage of .522, which marked the best hitting percentage of any team in any MPSF conference game so far this year.
UCLA put up similarly dominating performances earlier in the year, only to follow them up with disappointing losses.
The message with the team throughout the next week might be along the lines of what Speraw said after Saturday’s loss but likely with a little bit more of a positive note after seeing the result against USC.
“He’s trying to say, ‘Alright guys, we messed up here, but we have the next task to take care of,’” said redshirt sophomore outside hitter Kene Izuchukwu. “So we need to stay focused, stay energized, and just move on to the next game.”