Little-known Cal Baptist nearly gave the No. 2 Bruins a scare
Wednesday night at Pauley Pavilion.
It took UCLA, who admittedly knew very little about its
opponents, three games to realize how to counter the great outside
hitting and blocking of the Lancers.
But despite Cal Baptist leading 2-1 in the early going, the
Bruins finally picked up on the Lancers’ style of play,
defeating them 30-20, 28-30, 17-30, 30-27, 15-10 in a five-game
thriller at Pauley on Wednesday.
“Cal Baptist has great middle blockers and probably the
best three outside hitters that we’ll face this year,”
UCLA coach Al Scates said. “We knew the game would be tough
by looking at their stats against other good teams.”
With a win over NAIA-defending champion Cal Baptist on
Wednesday, the Bruins have solidified their position as one of the
best teams in the country, ranked only behind BYU.
The Bruins began the match with the nearly flawless play they
exhibited last weekend in the Elephant Bar Classic. Hitting .395
with 20 kills and holding Cal Baptist to .077 in the first game,
UCLA looked like it might roll over the Lancers in straight games,
but Cal Baptist didn’t play the part.
In the second and third games, Cal Baptist, led by Seidu Ajanko
and Shamsu Awudu from Ghana and Sergio Rose from Brazil, stepped up
and dominated the Bruins. The Lancers had 11 blocks while the
Bruins had none. Cal Baptist also held UCLA to a .000 hit
percentage in the third game.
“(Cal Baptist) got on some good streaks in the early games
that allowed them to win,” senior Jonathan Acosta said.
“They are a very good blocking team, and we weren’t
able to get some shots in at the beginning because we didn’t
know that much about how they play.”
Realizing they were one game away from their first loss of the
season, the Bruins stepped up their defense against Awudu and
Ajanko and picked up their focus on offense, making only four
errors.
“We weren’t communicating well in the first few
games, and things started going wrong,” quick hitter Allan
Vince said. “As we started talking with each other more we
began to take advantage of point opportunities.”
“We charted them during the first game, and by the third
game we knew how they played,” Scates said.
The Bruins continued their aggressive and smart play into the
fifth match, and, led by Acosta and sophomore Steve Klosterman,
easily won with an outstanding .909 percentage.
“We can dominate any team in the league,” Vince
said. “(Cal Baptist) may have been one of the best teams
we’ll play all year. They surprised us a little at the
beginning, but once we figured out their tendencies, we were able
to win. If we keep working hard and playing well, no one will be
able to stop us.”