UCLA men’s volleyball hit its worst stretch of the season at the worst time, and Thursday’s matchup against Stanford will not offer an easy opportunity to rebound.
Coming off back-to-back losses against now top-ranked BYU, the No. 4 Bruins (21-5, 15-5 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) desperately need to rebound – not only to establish a rhythm heading into the postseason but also to secure a quality playoff seed.
UCLA has experience against No. 3 Stanford (19-3, 17-3), coming in the form of a four-set loss in Palo Alto in February.
“I think there is a sense of urgency about some of the areas of the game where we need to improve quickly,” said coach John Speraw after Tuesday’s practice. “We’re still not where we need to be.”
The Bruins used practice this week to make adjustments and fix the areas in need of improvement.
“We’re just trying to tighten our systems up,” said freshman setter/hitter Micah Ma’a.
However, only so much can be changed at this point in the season.
“This late in the year … there’s no time for some big fixes,” Ma’a said. “The style of ball that you have is the style of ball that you have, and you’re going to have to roll with it.”
The Bruins saw the Cougars for the first time last weekend, when they dropped both matches over the course of two days. UCLA will not be at that same disadvantage against Stanford, having played the Cardinal once already this year.
“BYU did some things that we’re not used to,” said sophomore outside hitter J.T. Hatch. “We’ve just got to maybe rewatch and revisit that (Stanford) game.”
Key to UCLA’s game plan will be containing Stanford setter James Shaw.
“James Shaw is a unique player in the league that stresses your defense in unique ways,” Speraw said. “He is able to set the quick from lots of different areas.”
Shaw torched the Bruins during their February matchup, registering 43 assists in four sets that day. He represents only one aspect of a myriad of concerns UCLA has going up against a very strong Stanford team.
“In (the first) match, I thought we did a nice job on their outsides (hitters), but didn’t do a good enough job on their middles,” Speraw said. “We’re going to have to defend the middle a lot better than we did last time, while continuing to do a decent job on their outside hitters.”
Speraw is not the only one concerned about Stanford’s middles.
“Their middles had a great game against us,” Ma’a said. “So, we’re gonna try to stop them.”
UCLA knew this last stretch of games would be tough. The Bruins’ penultimate regular season match Thursday night will serve as no exception.
Email Share at pshare@media.ucla.edu or tweet him @Phizzbeat.