As UCLA men’s volleyball enters its penultimate week of regular-season play, the Bruins are riding their first win streak since January.
No. 6 UCLA (13-7, 8-6 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) will take on unranked Sacred Heart (12-3, 5-2 Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association) Friday and unranked Concordia (11-7) Saturday, in the John Wooden Center.
The Pioneers most recently beat the Princeton Tigers in four sets and the Harvard Crimson in five. The Bruins beat the Tigers and Crimson in straight sets earlier this season.
Concordia has won eight straight matches, including a four-set victory over UC Santa Barbara.
Although both teams will be unfamiliar opponents for the Bruins, coach John Speraw said that his focus is on his team’s side of the net.
“I know that’s cliche in coaching, but I think where we are right now that’s very applicable,” Speraw said. “We’re not yet in a position where we can spend all of our emotional effort and focus on what other teams are doing and how we’re going to battle that. … I don’t even know what to expect from (Sacred Heart and Concordia) – I’m just working on what to expect from our team this weekend.”
This weekend’s matches come after a four-set upset of then-No. 5 Lewis and a sweep of Harvard. Prior to that, however, UCLA only won two matches in the month of February.
I think the confidence of the team is up right now,” said senior middle blocker Mitch Stahl. “It’s important to get two quality wins under our belt after a couple losses that were super tight. I think that brings the positive vibe to the team that we’ve been looking for.”
Throughout last month’s rough patch, the Bruins were plagued with injuries. Speraw said the team is mostly getting healthier, but sophomore setter/opposite Micah Ma’a remains sidelined. Prior to Ma’a’s injury, UCLA began to test out a 5-1 lineup that utilizes one setter instead of its normal two-setter rotation.
“We’ve kind of been in and out guys the whole year, but I think we’re starting to ground a solid lineup now,” said sophomore outside hitter Dylan Missry. “Micah’s still out – when he comes back I’m not sure what we’re going to run, a 5-1 or 6-2 –but the 5-1 has definitely provided us with another spark offensively to get us going.”
This week in practice, Speraw has emphasized the importance of emotionally preparing to work hard and have a playoff mentality every time the Bruins step onto the court.
“I just want to continue to push them to really reflect what it’s like to be in a playoff game, what that feels like, how hard you go,” Speraw said. “I think that for us to win these remaining matches and to put ourselves in a position to do well in the playoffs, we have to go there sooner than most teams.”