It’s desperation time now.
The UCLA men’s volleyball team, after losing a pair of
four-game matches to Hawai’i on Friday and Saturday, has its
back against the wall, sitting in ninth place in the MPSF with five
matches to go.
Saturday, defending national champion and No. 2 Hawai’i
(15-5, 9-5) beat No. 8 UCLA 30-19, 30-23, 28-30, 30-29 to assure
the Bruins (13-11, 8-9) that they will have lost the most matches
in a single season in school history.
The Warriors did it at the service line, serving eight aces and
forcing countless unforced errors. Outside hitter Tony Ching led
the way with four of those aces.
“They served really well, and we had trouble with
that,” Bruin senior middle blocker Scott Morrow said.
“They went all out and put everything behind their
serves.”
The Bruins were simply overpowered and overwhelmed. The Warrior
serve was so dominant that UCLA junior libero Adam Shrader missed
his first games of the season when head coach Al Scates pulled him
in favor of freshman Saul Zemaitaitis.
“It all started with the passing,” Morrow said.
“We couldn’t do it.”
Outside hitter Costas Theocharidis led the Warriors with 27
kills. Ching added 19 as well as a response to UCLA’s
comments about Hawai’i in the Daily Bruin.
“There was a lot of trash-talking in the Bruin newspaper
and across the net,” he said. “But that’s okay.
They didn’t respect us last year, and we won the national
championship.”
UCLA head coach Al Scates started sophomore middle blocker David
Russell to get a better server in the lineup, but he was
ineffective and eventually pulled for Morrow. The Bruins had 19
serving errors to two aces.
Senior setter Rich Nelson was also taken out at times in favor
of freshman Aaron Dodd, who has emerged as the second-string
setter.
Hawai’i, which swept a two-match series in Pauley Pavilion
for the first time in its history, also won on Saturday 22-30,
30-22, 30-24, 30-23 behind 25 kills from Theocharidis. Sophomore
outside hitter Jonathan Acosta had 21 kills for UCLA while freshman
opposite hitter Matt McKinney had a career-high 16.
UCLA is now in danger of missing the postseason for the first
time ever.
“We have to sweep our next five matches, and we’re
going to start by taking a week off for finals,” Scates
said.
Apparently, nothing comes easy for UCLA.