There was no reason to believe the UCLA men’s volleyball
team would win on Saturday night.
The Bruins were facing the nation’s No. 2 team in front of
5,966 people at one of the toughest arenas in the country.
Their opponent, Hawai’i (23-5) came in with a 19-match
winning streak, with wins over nearly every team that has even an
outside chance of winning the national championship, including two
dominating wins against UCLA.
But in came the Bruins, with such a determination to continue in
their quest for a national championship that they rolled through
the stunned Warriors 3-1 to advance past the quarterfinals of the
Mountain Pacific Sports Federation.
“We were out there battling for what every player came to
UCLA for, and that is a chance to win a national
championship,” senior Damien Scott said. “Nothing less
is good enough, and this is the seniors’ last chance, so
everyone brings tremendous energy to the court, knowing that we
can’t lose another match.”
During the Bruins’ 10-match winning streak, UCLA (22-12)
has exerted that energy and mental focus with the leadership of its
seniors.
However, at the start of Saturday’s match, the Bruins
played like the team that was easily defeated in its last trip to
Hawai’i. The Bruins allowed the Warriors to hit .438 in Game
1 and dropped the game 30-18. The Bruins hit an abysmal -.034 and
managed to hit more errors (nine) than kills (eight). UCLA’s
top hitter, junior Steve Klosterman, had no kills and five errors
after the first game.
“The first game was probably the worst we’ve had all
season,” coach Al Scates said. “The crowd was going
nuts, Hawai’i was playing well, and we never challenged their
block. Instead, we hit shots we haven’t done all season and
ended up getting errors.”
The Bruins quickly regrouped like they have in their last two
matches and played as a much-improved team.
Hawai’i had four early service errors in Game 2, allowing
the Bruins to stay in the game and get their offense rolling.
Scates replaced freshman setter Matt Wade with senior Dennis
Gonzalez, and Klosterman scored points on five straight hitting
attempts to give the Bruins a slight lead, which they never
relinquished.
“We were able to come back because we had done it
before,” senior David Russell said. “We got demolished
by (Cal State) Northridge and came back against Santa Barbara.
Teams are going to have their streaks against us, but we just come
back harder and more determined.”
Once they gained momentum in Game 2, it was all UCLA.
Hawai’i’s poor serving continued, its block began to
fail, and their hitters relied on forced shots.
The Warriors hit .200 in the game, while UCLA slammed 20 kills
with only four errors for a .533 clip.
“By the third game, we were playing well because we outhit
them and held them with our defense,” Scates said. “We
had an excellent scouting report on them since we had played three
times already. Once we took down their tendencies, they
couldn’t do anything against us.”
Game 4 was tied as late as 24-24, but the Bruins reeled off the
final six points to give them the victory and advance to the MPSF
Semifinals.
For the match, the Bruins were led by Klosterman and senior Nick
Scheftic, who had 14 kills each and received a major boost from
sophomore Tony Ker’s 18 digs.
“Tony did an awesome job because his defense was
frustrating Hawai’i,” Russell said. “He was
digging their giant hits, which demoralized them.”
But the big difference on Saturday night was the intensity. The
Bruins played like they wanted it more, like they were playing for
an MPSF title.
“We recognized that they were a great team, but we know we
can beat any team,” Scott said.
“They ravaged us in the first game, but we came out
stronger and played like we wanted to step on their throats and
completely shut them down.”
With such focus and determination, the Bruins are now a team to
be feared instead of overlooked in the race for the national
title.