Coming off its lackluster performance in the Bay Area last
weekend, the No. 3 UCLA men’s volleyball team (4-1) hopes to
regain its form tonight against No. 10 UC Irvine (3-3).
The matchup between the two top-10 teams also marks the return
of UCI volleyball coach John Speraw, a former UCLA player and
assistant coach who has vaulted the UCI program to national
prominence.
Speraw played at UCLA from 1991-1995, leading the Bruins to a
national title as the starting quick hitter during the 1995
season.
He then went on to become a Bruin assistant coach from
2000-2002, while also coaching with coach Al Scates in the World
University Games in Spain.
The coming match will be the second time around for Speraw
against the Bruins after going 2-1 against them last year.
“I feel a very close connection to the Bruins,”
Speraw said. “The 12 years I spent there as a player and
coach were invaluable to me.”
However, his attention has now been turned to achieving the same
level of excellence that he enjoyed at UCLA with the Anteaters.
The Anteaters have been inconsistent despite ending last season
ranked No. 5 in the country. They started 3-3 this season with
losses to UC Santa Barbara, USC and Stanford.
Facing UCLA, however, has brought local excitement to the
program. Tonight’s match will take place at the Bren Events
Center and will be broadcast locally on Cox Channel 3 Sports.
The last time UCI’s men’s volleyball team played at
the Bren Events Center was 2003, when they faced No. 1 Hawaii in
front of a team-record crowd of 3,235.
The Bruins have their own reason to be excited. They have added
two new players to their starting lineup: Dennis Gonzalez and Chris
Peña. Both are coming off excellent performances this
weekend.
“Chris had a .444 hitting average over the weekend and
earned the starting position,” Scates said. “Our middle
is our strongest position, and we expect a lot from
them.”
Gonzalez has now recovered from his early-season illness, and he
set very well against University of the Pacific and Stanford.
UCI, meanwhile, has its own star in Jimmy Pelzel, who was a
first-team All-American last year and had a team-record 37 kills in
66 attempts last weekend in a match against Stanford.
“Pelzel is the player that we are focusing on,”
Scates said. “He receives the majority of their sets and is
an impact player.”