So far this season, the No. 11 UCLA men’s volleyball
team’s depth chart has been dangerously shallow.
So shallow that even the return of 6-foot-9-inch senior quick
hitter Scott Morrow, who had spent the previous four months
recovering from knee surgery, couldn’t save the Bruins on
Wednesday.
Morrow’s height and leadership were not enough to top Cal
State Northridge (7-4, 3-3 MPSF), who edged out the Bruins 3-2
(28-30, 30-28, 30-23, 25-30, 15-12) in front of a vocal crowd of
450 at Pauley Pavilion.
The injury-plagued Bruins (4-6, 1-5 MPSF) have posted an
uncharacteristically shoddy conference record in the young season
and went into the game with the No. 12 Matadors coming off a tough
two-loss weekend at BYU.
Morrow recorded nine kills and seven blocks in his 2003
debut.
“Scott’s senior leadership is going to be huge down
the line,” head coach Al Scates said. “He will just
continue to get better as he returns to form.”
“I felt really rusty to be honest,” Morrow
confessed.
The team got solid performances out of its sophomore class as
outside hitter Jonathan Acosta was dominant throughout the match,
posting 26 kills and a .246 hitting percentage.
Sophomore Gray Garrett also performed admirably, hitting an
extraordinary .588 in four games played.
UCLA continues its homestand this Friday against UC Santa
Barbara. The Bruins are optimistic about snapping their three-game
losing streak.
“We are just about there,” Morrow said. “We
are right on the edge. We just have to work hard every day and
before we know it we will start winning games and turn this streak
around.”
“We just have to get over the hump,” agreed
sophomore quick hitter Chris Peña. “We have a lot work
ahead of us.”