After a long road trip that took the UCLA men’s volleyball team from Malibu to Chicago, it is back in Pauley Pavilion tonight to host Long Beach State.
The No. 9 Bruins (7-8, 4-5 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) and the No. 6 49ers (7-5, 6-3) will meet tonight to conclude their season series. Long Beach won the first match at home in a five-set marathon.
The Bruins are coming off a grueling, 1-3 road trip, while the 49ers have not played a match in 12 days.
Before their layoff, however, the 49ers took a pair of matches against visiting Hawai’i.
This week in practice, the Bruins worked on key problems they found in their four-set loss to USC on Friday night. Coach Al Scates said increasing the number of hitting and blocking repetitions was the main focus of his preparation for the visiting 49ers.
The Bruins, suffering the recent loss of junior outside hitter Garrett Muagututia to an ankle sprain, had a weak attack exposed in the road trip.
Against the Trojans, they struggled to get production from anyone other than freshman quick hitter Thomas Amberg. With a one-dimensional attack, the Trojans stopped Amberg in the fourth set to take the match easily.
Amberg said they will try to open up more attacking options tonight against Long Beach.
“We really need to work on passing as a whole, so that we establish the middle early,” Amberg said. “That way we can open up for our outsides and opposites so we can really have a higher hitting percentage as a team.”
Muagututia, who is likely going to be available to play tonight, will be a valuable return for the Bruins’ hitting ability.
The Bruins will definitely need more reliable hitting against Long Beach’s junior opposite Dean Bittner, who is currently second in the MPSF in both kills per set and points per set, with 5.59 and 6.73, respectively.
Muagututia has been one of the most consistent players for the Bruins this season and pounded 21 kills in the previous match against Long Beach.
Tonight’s match is also critical for the Bruins, as they barely hang in the MPSF playoff picture. Sitting at eighth in the conference, UCLA could narrow the gap between its team and Stanford’s, currently seventh in the conference.
Pauley Pavilion has been something of a stronghold this season for the Bruins as they have dropped only one match at home, which was to then-No. 2 Cal State Northridge.
BRUINS TO SERVE UP PIZZA: UCLA Athletics will be treating the first 100 UCLA students in attendance with two free slices of pizza and a free T-shirt.