The UCLA men’s volleyball team won’t be traveling
too far in search for a bit of redemption.
After losing to Long Beach State in the championship match of
the UCSB/Elephant Bar Invitational last weekend, No. 2 UCLA is
ready to bounce back against No. 9 UC Irvine tonight.
The Bruins (2-1) will kick off conference play against the
Anteaters (3-1) at Crawford Court at 7 p.m.
The UCLA squad, which lost five starters from last year’s
NCAA final team, will face an Anteater team that not only returns
with the majority of its starters but is expected to contend for
the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation title this season.
Leading UCI are junior outside hitters Jayson Jablonsky and Matt
Webber, who have combined for at least 33 kills in the last three
matches.
Webber is averaging a team-high 4.19 kills per game and has had
double-digit kills in every match this season.
“If both of them play extremely well, then it’s
going to be a long night,” assistant coach Brian Rofer
said.
“If we slow one of them down, we’ll get out of there
(with a victory).”
To slow the two Anteaters, UCLA will rely on its height, with
its shortest starting attackers standing at 6 feet 5 inches.
Freshman outside hitter Sean O’Malley is 6’9″,
and middle blocker Nick Scheftic is 6’11″.
“We’re gonna put up a pretty big block with Sean and
Scheftic ’cause they’re both big guys,” outside
hitter Paul George said.
Before the Bruins can key in on UCI’s two power hitters,
however, they must first concentrate on their own side of the net,
according to Rofer.
The Bruins hit a season-low .103 in the last game against Long
Beach State, and only two hitters, Scheftic and Jamie Diefenbach,
had a hitting percentage over .200.
“I definitely was not happy with our attack against the
49ers,” coach Al Scates said. “If you look at the
numbers, we hit lower than a normal women’s collegiate
volleyball game.”
After watching video footage on Monday, the team saw that it
must work on its back-row defense and its offense upon service
reception.
“Some individuals are breaking down on each play, not
quite getting to their defensive assignment,” Scates
said.
“(Paul George and Tony Ker) are really doing the job and
getting to where they need to be. They don’t blow any
assignments, but we’re going to have to pick it up with the
other players. We want everyone to work as hard as they can in that
defensive aspect of the game. If we get more balls up in the air,
we’re gonna score a lot more points.”
The Bruins lead the Anteaters 49-3 all-time, but two of those
three losses came at the hands of former UCLA assistant coach and
current UCI coach John Speraw.
UCI’s players usually have up a little extra incentive for
the rivalry against the Bruins, and UCLA is aware of that.
“The (UCI) junior class just has a lot of playing
experience; they’re real talented,” Rofer said.