The only comforting thing about the UCLA men’s volleyball team’s final four matches is that they’re all at home.
The No.1 Bruins (21-3, 15-3 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) begin the final stretch of the regular season – four matches against teams in the top six nationally – with back-to-back matchups against the No. 3 BYU Cougars (19-3, 15-3).
Currently both BYU and UCLA are tied for second in the MPSF, only a half match behind the first placed Stanford.
The results of this back-to-back matchup, and UCLA’s match against Stanford on Thursday, will weigh heavily on seeding for the upcoming MPSF playoffs.
The Bruins are the owners of an MPSF-best eight-match winning streak and an impressive straight-set victory against the No. 4 Long Beach State 49ers last Saturday.
“After you get a couple of wins, you get a little bit of confidence and that can help perpetuate future wins,” said coach John Speraw. “So maybe we do (have momentum) but it’s not something we can rest on.”
BYU swept UC San Diego in its two most recent matches but prior to that the Cougars were defeated by the No. 6 Pepperdine Waves – an uncharacteristic blemish in what had been an otherwise dominant streak of 13 matches
The Cougars also boast an impressive 11-1 record away from home this season, but have a 9-20 all time record when playing in Westwood.
The upcoming matchup will not only see a clash of competing giants but also contrasting play styles. BYU prides itself on being a very physical team whereas UCLA may be considered more cerebral than overpoweringly physical.
“It’s going to be fun and it should be a challenge,” said freshman libero Davis Gillett. “They’re big and they’re good but we’re not scared of them, we’re going out there to have fun and hopefully get a win.”
BYU has some serious offensive firepower in the forms of sophomore opposite hitter Ben Patch, sophomore outside hitter Brenden Sander and junior outside hitter Jake Langlois. All three boast season kill counts in the 200s and Patch is third in the nation with 4.55 kills per set.
Only one Bruin has a kill count over 200, and the one Bruin so happens to be sophomore outside hitter Jake Arnitz.
UCLA is not lacking on offense, though, spreading the kills around rather than just focusing solely on three players.
The Cougars also display a staunch front line with senior middle blocker Michael Hatch and sophomore middle blocker Price Jarman being third and fourth, respectively, in the country in blocks per set.
The Bruins have a big blocker of their own in junior middle blocker Mitch Stahl, who is fifth in the nation, but Stahl has been out with an injury for the past three weeks and is questionable for this weekend.
“I don’t really know, he’s back and practicing but he also hasn’t played in three weeks,” Speraw said after Wednesday evening’s practice. “So I’m not sure if he’s going to be good enough to play (this weekend).”
Despite playing at home, the Bruins will be playing on a different court than usual. Rather than Pauley Pavilion, this weekend’s matches will be held in the John Wooden Center – a venue where UCLA has played just twice this season. Wooden, a less impressive but more intimate setting, allows the crowd to play a bigger role.
“I think it’s going to be a great environment,” said freshman setter Micah Ma’a. “BYU travels well, so they’ll have fans there too. It’s going to be crazy and I’m excited to play at Wooden.”