Ten thousand hours.
That’s the amount of time required to reach a certain level of expertise, according to men’s volleyball coach John Speraw.
Over the course of the weekend, No. 12 UCLA (12-13, 8-13 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) logged four of those ten thousand, splitting matches in a closely contested four-set loss to No. 4 UC Irvine (24-4, 18-3) and a sweep over unranked UC San Diego (2-25, 0-21).
The Bruins opened their matchup against the Anteaters by dropping a lackluster first set in Pauley Pavilion where, despite outhitting the visitors .440 to .320, they committed eight of their 21 total service errors.
UCLA responded with much better defense in the second set as Irvine hit a low .258 and the Bruins won the set. While UCLA went on to drop the final two sets, the team looked more than capable of competing with Irvine.
“We’re right there with everyone, it’s just about executing,” said freshman opposite Christian Hessenauer. “Right now we haven’t really been doing that.”
The following night offered a much-needed victory for the Bruins as they swept past the visiting Tritons. UCLA ended its longest losing streak of the season at five matches and, with the win, leapfrogged No. 15 Stanford for the eighth and final spot in the MPSF playoff field, which they have yet to clinch.
Redshirt senior opposite Clayton Paullin and redshirt junior Trent Kersten were honored before their final home match as part of Senior Night. The two then paced the offense, combining for an errorless night with a 13 kills on 17 attempts. UCLA’s offense hit .436 as a whole, its highest hitting percentage of the season.
“This experience has been just incredible – to be able to play and compete at Pauley Pavilion every night,” Kersten said. “I’m really glad that we got to end it on a win against San Diego.”
The Bruins now control their fate.
The team holds a half game lead over Stanford and can clinch a playoff spot by defeating the Cardinal on Friday in its final regular season match. A loss wouldn’t end the Bruins’ season, but it would require the Cardinal to lose to No. 9 UC Santa Barbara (15-9, 11-9) the next night in order to tie for the final MPSF berth.
Although the team didn’t play its sharpest matches over the weekend, committing 41 serving errors, Speraw said that the Bruins will only improve if they keep getting hours under their belts.
“We’re just in the midst of trying to get up to 10,000 hours and the only thing that’s going to cure it is 10,000 hours,” Speraw said. “We’re just going to have to keep fighting and make the most of the time that we are out on the court. If we’re not focused and if we’re not deliberate in what we’re doing on the volleyball court, then it takes more. You know it can’t take less.”