M. volleyball crosses sea for game with Ball State
By Ruben Gutierrez
Daily Bruin Staff
The UCLA men’s volleyball team (1-0) will again face a stern
test tonight, as they take on the Ball State Cardinals at the
Outrigger Hotels Invitational tournament in Hawaii.
A loss to Ball State during regular season play was the only
blemish on last year’s 32-1 record. UCLA faced Ball state again in
the NCAA semi-finals and made the most of the opportunity, spanking
the Cardinals 15-12, 15-9, 15-10.
Ball State (3-0) was ranked eighth in Volleyball Magazine’s
preseason poll. The Cardinals are led by senior Stefan Trienen.
Trienen recorded eight kills in eight attempts for the Cardinals
against Thomas More. More than anything, though, key losses
characterize this years squad.
"They lost their two big hitters from last year," UCLA head
coach Al Scates said. "I know they’ve got a lot of players in that
program, but they lose their opposite and they lose their best
swing. I don’t know if they can be as good as they were last year,
but that is what everybody is saying about us, so it’ll probably be
a pretty even match."
Things don’t get any easier for the Bruins tomorrow night, as
they take on host Hawaii. Scates considers the Rainbows the
strongest team in the tournament and the matchup will occupy the
marquee time slot (8 p.m. Hawaiian, 10 p.m. Pacific).
"The best team in the tournament is the No.1 team, Hawaii,"
Scates said. "They pick up their third starter off of the Israeli
national team. They pick up a swing hitter this time and they had a
great opposite last year. If this swing is nearly as good as that
opposite, then everybody is in big trouble."
Another strength Hawaii possesses is a balanced passing
game.
"The swing hitter is supposed to be a very good ball control
player, so they’ll have great passing," Scates said.
The results of last night’s Penn State match were not available
at press time.Comments to webmaster@db.asucla.ucla.edu