Over the course of what is now a six-game winning streak, the Bruins have developed a new personality. This team is emerging as an offensive powerhouse.
No. 4 UCLA (17-9, 13-7 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) comfortably defeated No. 2 UC Irvine (19-6, 15-6) in four sets Saturday night in what was perhaps the most impressive road result of the season for the Bruins. The win, which came only one night after sweeping UC San Diego in San Diego, capped off a weekend of strong offensive performances.
“We’re starting to become a very good offensive team; we’re attacking the ball for a very high percentage and that’s really what we’ve seen over this win streak,” said coach John Speraw.
The run of high hitting percentages peaked on Friday night against UCSD, where the Bruins combined to hit .551 – good enough to rank as the highest hitting percentage of any team in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation in the last two years.
The following night was more of the same, as the Bruins rode a hot offensive start to avenge their home loss in late January against the same Anteater team.
The occasional letdowns that came in the wake of big wins contributed to the inconsistent results throughout the first half of the season, but the new character of this team seems to have found a way to overcome that tendency.
“We’ve been talking a lot about how once we’re getting wins and playing good we can’t go back down to a relaxed level where we lose focus,” said redshirt sophomore middle blocker Michael Beals.
The dominating offensive performances in the two wins were impressive enough in their own right, but what made them even more notable was the fact that the Bruins were playing without two of their regular starters. Redshirt junior setter Connor Bannan and redshirt freshman middle blocker Trent Kersten played in the absence of freshman setter Steve O’Dell and redshirt sophomore middle blocker Clayton Paullin.
“We were playing without some of our starters, but these guys off the bench have been playing with us a long time so we all know each other really well,” said junior outside hitter Gonzalo Quiroga.
The Bruins are now playing their best volleyball of the year at an opportune time. The end of the regular season is near, with only four home games left before the MPSF tournament begins.
“We don’t have to travel anymore,” Quiroga said. “Now we get to play at Pauley, with our people, and with our own fans.”
Email Villalobos at villalobos@media.ucla.edu.