The last time the men’s volleyball team was in Honolulu in
January, Dennis Gonzalez stood proud after being named the Most
Outstanding Player of the Outrigger Invitational. But in game four
of Friday’s match, the Bruins’ emotional leader was
writhing in pain on Hawai’i’s side of the court.
The Bruins’ situation echoed Gonzalez’s pain, as
they lost to the Warriors 3-1 (30-25, 30-19, 28-30, 30-24) Friday
and were swept 3-0 (30-24, 30-23, 30-28) Saturday. The losses
marked only the fourth time in the two teams’ history that
Hawai’i has swept the season series. The two losses put the
Bruins (12-11, 5-9 MPSF) at ninth place in the conference, while
the Warriors (13-4, 11-3) overtook the second place spot.
And it all started with Gonzalez’s potentially
season-ending injury on Friday.
After attempting to block Hawai’i’s Mauli’a La
Barre midway through game four, Gonzalez collided with middle
blocker Jamie Diefenbach. Upon landing, Gonzalez’s knees
locked and he found himself in agony near the Warrior three-meter
line. There are no broken bones, but it is suspected that he has a
high-ankle sprain, pending tests in Los Angeles on Sunday.
The Bruins were leading when Gonzalez went out, but failed to
win a game the rest of the weekend without Gonzalez.
There was a stark contrast between this weekend’s matches
and the January match, which the Bruins won in five games.
According to UCLA coach Al Scates, the biggest difference was not
having Outrigger MVP Gonzalez at full strength. Freshman Matt Wade
has had to step in for Gonzalez, who has been tending to an injured
finger recently.
“In January, Dennis was 100 percent and had been playing a
lot,” Scates said. “He just took the splint off a
couple days ago. Dennis is not the same setter he was in January.
He was playing great then, before he got banged up.”
His fellow players can see the difference as well.
“I think Dennis really fires you up after every
play,” middle blocker Nick Scheftic said. “When I see
him yelling, it fires me up more. I think Matt Wade is also a good
player, (but) being a freshman, he doesn’t have the courage
to lead. He tries to keep players calm when we’re down.
Dennis brings a fiery aspect to the table.”
Setting aside, this time around the Bruins were not able to keep
pace with Hawai’i’s balanced attack. Having three
reliably effective outsides (Lauri Hakala, Jose Delgado, and Matt
Carere) was an advantage the Warriors have used to trump many
teams. In January, UCLA’s offense was able to keep up, but
this weekend the Bruins were not able to match the Warrior attack
and fell to deficits as large as nine points.
On Saturday, the Warriors outhit the Bruins .349 to .301, and
outblocked the Bruins 9-3.
“This Hawai’i team is really good, they have the
quickest offense to the outside that we’ve seen in a long
time,” Scates said. “All three of those guys are very
quick and very explosive. We just couldn’t stop them
one-on-one. All we had to do was win one game and turn it around,
but we couldn’t get over the hump.”