Almost a month into the season, the jury is still out on just how good this UCLA men’s volleyball team is. The Bruins go back and forth between positive performances and subpar showings; they battle back when they’re losing, but tend to ease off the gas pedal when they’re winning. For coach John Speraw, the true potential of this team has yet to be determined.
“I don’t have any conclusions about what the end result can be,” Speraw said. “It’s an open book in a lot of ways; I think we have the possibility of being a very good volleyball team. It just depends on how quickly we can continue to improve and stay focused on the process.”
The No. 5 Bruins (7-5, 3-3 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) will continue that process Saturday night against No. 13 UC San Diego Tritons (4-6, 2-4) in a rematch of an early-season, non-conference game that the Bruins won in five sets.
The game will give UCLA a chance to put its five-set loss against defending champion UC Irvine in the rearview mirror.
It will also give them an opportunity to build some new momentum, something they’ve had trouble maintaining over the course of the season. After a 5-1 start to the season, the team has strayed into a fall down, get back up, fall back down cycle.
Earlier in the year, Speraw mentioned that the team was good in a lot of aspects but not yet great in any, and according to him there are a variety of reasons that hasn’t changed.
“Some of it has to do with individual skill and experience,” he said. “It has a lot to do with the different characteristics that each player brings to the team right now … and it also has a lot to do with the fact that we’re still trying to understand where our systems and fundamentals need to be on a consistent basis.”
All in all, one could say that the Bruins are in the same position as most of the other teams in their conference: not bad, could get better.
Seeing better results could partly come down to weathering a stormy schedule.
“I believe in our team 100 percent,” said junior middle blocker Spencer Rowe. “We’ve played some tough teams early and we’ve had a tough road schedule so I’m looking forward to coming back here on Saturday and playing with some competitive fire.”
When it comes specifically to UCSD, UCLA knows that any win will have to be fully earned.
“They always give us trouble – they’re a really scrappy team, so it’s going to be a good test for us,” redshirt junior setter Connor Bannan said. “I’m excited to get back in the gym and get a redemption win.”
Email at Villalobos lvillalobos@media.ucla.edu