Volleyball treks south
to play Aztecs, Tritons
By Lawrence Ma
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
So did they or didn’t they?
The top-ranked UCLA men’s volleyball team didn’t get much of a
workout in their last outing against No. 5 UC Santa Barbara
Wednesday night, when the Bruins swept a team that gave them a
pretty tough go in previous meetings during the season.
Amid rumors of the Gauchos possibly throwing the match,
presumably to save their best for Mountain Pacific Sports
Federation Tournament at the end of the month, the Bruins hit the
road this weekend for a pair of MPSF matches against No. 14 San
Diego State and UC San Diego.
San Diego State (9-13 overall, 6-11 MPSF) will be up first for
UCLA (23-1, 16-0). The Aztecs have struggled of late, and UCLA
coach Al Scates doesn’t have a clear idea of who will show up
Friday night, except for John Hyden. The 6-foot-6-inch swing hitter
holds the NCAA record with 55 kills in a single match and is
currently sixth in the conference in kills (6.49 per game).
"San Diego State changes their lineup all the time. We’re going
to try to get some info on them," Scates said. "It’s tough, because
Coach (Jack) Henn puts the guys on the court who are practicing
well, and it’s always different.
"But we know Hyden gets lots of kills. He’s their star."
On Saturday, the Bruins will move slightly north to La Jolla,
where they will face yet another woeful UCSD squad. The Tritons
finished 0-19 in the league last year and 2-23 overall. Currently,
UCSD is 0-16 in the MPSF and 1-20 overall.
Scates is not terribly concerned about the Tritons and plans to
play as many players as the NCAA will allow. The game plan calls
for back up setter Aaron Boone to play with the first team in the
first frame against UCSD. The normal starter, Stein Metzger, will
set for the second team in the remaining games.