Scott Morrow made it look easy blocking volleyballs for
UCLA.
But for the three-time all-conference middle blocker, pain was
always much more difficult to block out. The already-injured Morrow
suffered a major dislocation to his finger Thursday at Cal State
Northridge that will end his college career.
“This was a bummer,” the soft-spoken Morrow
said.
Morrow, currently fifth on the all-time UCLA blocking list, was
injured doing what he does best. A hard-hit ball banged off the top
of the index finger on his non-hitting hand, causing the finger
bonds to tear tendons and visibly protrude from the skin.
The on-site training staff was unsuccessful in pulling his
tendons back into place, so he was sent to a local hospital that
did not finish the painful procedure until early Friday
morning.
With only four matches left to play, there is no time left for
the finger to heal.
A rare four-year starter in the program, Morrow was just
beginning to show signs of his old self after recovering from a
lingering knee injury. He was blocking as well as he had been all
year and had upped his hitting percentage to .397.
“He had regained that lost step,” head coach Al
Scates said. “He was back to normal.”
Earlier in the match, a CSUN fan spotted the knee brace Morrow
was wearing and focused his heckling on the injury that caused
Morrow to miss matches last season and the first nine this year.
Morrow underwent surgery on the knee last November after tearing it
in March.
Knowing that he would go into this season banged up, Morrow was
given the option to redshirt. But the First-Team Academic All-MPSF
player chose to play since he had already lined up a job at a big
accounting firm that he would start work at after graduating this
spring with a degree in business economics.
Morrow may need some early vacation time because he has been
selected to try out for the U.S. World University Games team, which
will compete in Daegu, Korea this August.
Scates was going to inform Morrow of this achievement after the
season.
“Well, his season’s over now,” Scates
said.
Sophomore Paul Johnson will be the top candidate to step in for
Morrow. Junior Matt Shubin, Morrow’s replacement earlier in
the season, is still recovering from a sprained ankle.
Ңbull;Ӣbull;Ӣbull;
Outside hitter Saul Zemaitaitis is taking full advantage of the
first significant playing time of his career. The redshirt freshman
has averaged two digs per game since Scates called him at midnight
before the second Hawai’i match last month to inform him that
he would be suiting up against the hot-serving Warriors.
Zemaitaitis subbed in at outside hitter and later took over for
libero Adam Shrader showing off impressive ball-control skills to
help take a game from Hawai’i. Most recently, Zemaitaitis
came off the bench against CSUN to record a career-high 14
digs.
He was slated to start at the beginning of the season, but knee
tendinitis and a sprained ankle cost him his spots in the lineup
and on the first court in practice.
“It was frustrating to not be out there,”
Zemaitaitis said. “But it comes with the program, and it is a
good thing because it makes you play your “˜A’ game at
all times.”