IRVINE “”mdash; If there was any doubt, it’s over.
Officially.
These Bruins are for real, and they are going to the Final
Four.
Entering the MPSF conference tournament as the No. 7 seed, the
UCLA men’s volleyball team completed its improbable run by
defeating No. 4 Long Beach State 24-30, 30-28, 30-23, 30-24 in the
Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championship Saturday night.
With the victory, the Bruins (24-12) earned the
conference’s automatic berth to this week’s NCAA
Championships at Penn State.
“It’s unbelievable. It’s a feeling I almost
can’t describe,” junior Paul George said. “To be
where we were at earlier in the season, and now to be playing for
the national title ““ it’s the reason you come to UCLA
and work so hard.”
In front a large UCLA contingent at UC Irvine’s Bren
Events Center, the Bruins showed how different they were than the
team that started 5-10 in conference play and was in ninth place in
MPSF standings.
They came out with a level of aggression and intensity that has
defined their current 12-match winning streak.
The Bruins were diving into press row for loose balls and taking
blocks off their heads for any sort of advantage.
“They took it to us on a different level,” 49ers
coach Al Knipe said. “They had incredible energy and
intensity, and we just couldn’t match it.”
The Bruins, however, were lacking that energy at the beginning
of Game 1. The 49ers (23-10) recorded four early blocks, and the
Bruins weren’t ready.
The Bruins fell behind 18-10 and they couldn’t
recover.
“We were spending too much time worrying about what they
we’re doing and not focusing on ourselves,” junior
opposite Steve Klosterman said. “Once we started playing our
own game, then we were able to take control of the
match.”
In the second game, the Bruins started going to the veterans,
George and redshirt senior Nick Scheftic, who have carried them
during their recent streak.
George had five kills on eight swings, and with the Bruins down
25-24 and in danger of falling to a 2-0 deficit, made a stretch of
three consecutive serves that turned the match around for the
Bruins.
The Bruins won Game 2, 30-28, and the match was never really in
doubt after that.
“I think that really was the difference,” senior
setter Dennis Gonzalez said. “Paul was starting to put balls
away, and that gave us some much-needed momentum.”
Scheftic, meanwhile, started to put away some of his own sets
and gave the Bruins some unexpected help from the middle blocker
position.
Scheftic finished the match with 13 kills and a match-high .524
hitting percentage.
It was a big output for Scheftic, considering he had been
outplayed by the 49ers in their earlier matchups this season and
was in his first year of playoff competition, only seeing minimal
play during his first three years with the Bruins.
“We’re just trying to play our best right
now,” Scheftic said. “What we did earlier this season
doesn’t really matter because we’re a completely
different team.”
Combined, Scheftic and George’s performance was able to
overcome the exceptional performance of 49er outside hitter Norm
Hutton, who finished with a match-high 27 kills.
Hutton was feeding off the setting of the 49ers’
first-team All-American setter Tyler Hildebrand, but only one other
Long Beach player finished with double-digit kills.
Part of the reason was the Bruins’ seven blocks and the
49ers’ hesitance around the net.
“You could really see that they were scared out
there,” Klosterman said. “They started trying to do
little tips and dumps, and that’s when you make
mistakes.”
As a result, it will be the Bruins, not the 49ers, who will be
representing the MPSF in this week’s NCAA Final Four.
On Sunday the Bruins were awarded the No. 2 seed out of the four
teams and will face Indiana-Purdue Fort Wayne in the earlier
semifinal on Thursday.
But on Saturday, the Bruins didn’t care about anything
regarding their seeding. They were just happy to continue their
magic season and have the chance to play for the national title
““ a lot more than they could have expected earlier this
season.
“I don’t care where we are playing. It could be Penn
State, European State, Japanese State, I don’t care,”
Gonzalez said. “We are playing for the national title, and
there isn’t anything else you could ask for.”