The UCLA men’s volleyball team enters
Hawai’i’s Stan Sheriff Center
to a chorus of boos every year, as Hawai’i fans
affectionately know them as the “big, bad
Bruins.â€
But the Hawai’i fans will have a different
chant for UCLA on Saturday: “the big, underdog
Bruins.â€
Never in the history of the two teams’
rivalry have the No. 7-seeded Bruins (21-12) entered as such heavy
underdogs as when they face the No. 2-seeded
Hawai’i Warriors for the MPSF quarterfinals.
The Warriors (23-4) have won 19 matches in a row and have
already defeated the Bruins twice this season.
“You would definitely have to say they are
heavy favorites, to say the least,†UCLA coach Al
Scates said. “But we are looking forward to it.
We are going to give the 8,000 fans something to scream
about.â€
Those fans will certainly be entertained Saturday, as the Bruins
and Warriors are two of the hottest teams in the country. The
Bruins have won nine matches in a row, and Scates believes that the
Bruins are now playing at their best.
“We definitely have the momentum in our
favor,†Scates said. “We already had
a tune-up match on Wednesday, and everyone on the team is healthy
and ready.â€
One of the players performing at full strength is junior
opposite Steve Klosterman. He has led the Bruins in kills during
their winning streak and recorded a career-high 30 kills in their
final regular-season game last Friday.
A shoulder injury limited Klosterman in his playing time when
the Bruins last traveled to Hawaii, but he is fully healthy this
time.
“Hawai’i is one of the best
teams in the nation, so we’ll be
ready,†Klosterman said. “The last
time around, we were a different team. We’re on
a streak now, and we’re playing pretty
hot.â€
If the Bruins are going to continue their streak, they will have
to stop Hawai’i’s tandem of
junior outside hitter Lauri Hakala and senior Jose Delgado.
The two are ranked in the top 10 in the conference in hitting
and account for a large portion of
Hawai’i’s nation-leading
offense.
“They’re definitely the
guys. We’re going to be keying in on them and
going over the game plans on how to stop them,â€
Klosterman said. “If we stop them, we should have
a good chance.â€
But more than just stopping two players, the Bruins know they
are going to have to play the game of their lives Saturday to
defeat heavily favored Hawai’i.
They know if they don’t, their season is
over.
“This is it. If we lose, we are
done,†senior setter Dennis Gonzalez said.
“I don’t know what our
coaches’ game plan is or who is going to start,
but I know one thing: Every time there is a big game in a big
stadium, we come up big.â€
With reports from Allison Ho, Bruin Sports
reporter.