Wednesday night was supposed to be a celebration for the UCLA men’s volleyball team.
With coach Al Scates looking for win No. 1,200 and UCLA 6-1 on the road, the No. 7 Bruins were poised for a big win in the friendly confines of Pepperdine’s Firestone Fieldhouse, for their 48-year coach.
But in the fifth set it would become anything but a party.
With No. 2 Pepperdine up 5-3, redshirt sophomore outside hitter Ryal Jagd dove over the first press table and hit his head on the secondary press table, cracking the boards, Scates said.
Jagd, who had 10 kills and was scorching the opposition with a .500 clip, sliced his neck open under his ear and will require stitches. Jagd was rushed to St. John’s Hospital in Santa Monica.
“He appears to be okay right now,” Scates said after the match. “I think he has a concussion.”
Scates brought back redshirt junior Dylan Bowermaster, who had not been producing all night. The Bruins (14-10, 9-8 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) went on to lose the set, 15-10, and the match, 30-24, 25-30, 30-21, 23-30, 15-10 to the Waves (14-6, 12-5). Scates will have to wait until their following match, Saturday against USC, for another attempt at reaching 1,200.
Jagd had only played in three sets this season and had just one kill before Wednesday’s match. Scates dressed the Palos Verdes native for Wednesday’s match in place of redshirt sophomore Jeremy Casebeer who is still recovering from a sprained ankle. Jagd’s loss, Scates said, had a “huge” effect on the Bruins.
“He was making perfect passes. We could go to the (quick hitters anytime he passed the ball,” Scates said. “He passed such a nice ball that it gave our (quick hitters) plenty of opportunity to run their routes, and that hurt us when he went out.”
And one of those quick hitters to get set by Jagd’s passes, Brett Perrine, was dominating the net. Perrine, the redshirt senior who has not played all season, slammed 20 kills with just one attacking error.
Scates called Jagd and Perrine “the stars of the night.”
“With the performance he had, there is no question he will compete for a starting spot,” Scates said of Jagd.
Perrine came in early in the first set for sophomore quick hitter Nick Vogel who was having a dismal match. Vogel finished with just two kills and one solo block.
The Bruins’ other starting quick hitter, sophomore Thomas Amberg, also struggled, hitting just eight kills and a .125 clip.
The blocking battle was heavily in favor of the hosts, in fact. UCLA managed just seven blocks to Pepperdine’s 15. Senior setter Kevin Ker led the Bruins in blocking with one solo block and a pair of block assists.
The Bruins relied heavily on their serving Wednesday night, Scates added. They out-aced the Waves 8-0 in an attempt to force bad passes on Pepperdine’s side of the net.
“We had to go for it because it was our only chance to force bad passes so that we would take the middle out with our serve,” Scates said. “I was pleased with our serving and that’s what kept us in the game, quite frankly.”
UCLA held Pepperdine’s starting middle blockers, junior Tyler Jaynes and senior Rodnei Santos to just 16 kills combined.
“We did a good job on their middles,” Scates said.
The biggest mismatch Wednesday night, however, was with Pepperdine junior outside hitter Cory Riecks against UCLA’s Ker.
The 6-foot-8-inch Riecks was hitting on the much smaller Ker, who stands at just 6 feet 1 inch. Riecks led the Waves with 17 kills and a .382 clip.
Setting changes
All season long, Scates has been switching between Ker and sophomore Kyle Caldwell as his starting setter. This quarter, however, the decision has been made for Scates.
The 6-foot-8-inch Caldwell was ruled academically ineligible and cannot compete during spring quarter. With Ker at just 6-1, the Bruins have a shorter block at the setter position. Caldwell is perhaps the Bruins best blocker and, a former opposite, is a skilled attacker as well. With his versatility, he had given the Bruins an extra option at setter.
“Unless he gets some grades changed, he can’t play for us,” Scates said of Caldwell’s ineligibility. “We can’t go big.”