Spring break was no vacation for the men’s volleyball team.
Packed with intense weight training, practice and two conference games, the Bruins’ schedule did not let up.
And the weekend was no stroll in the park either.
Traveling down to UC San Diego (9-15, 5-13 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) and No. 3 Long Beach State (19-5, 14-4) on Friday and Saturday, No. 8 UCLA (15-11, 10-8) was thrown back to the wolves after taking a week off for final exams.
The time off could have been a factor in the Bruins’ five-set loss to the Tritons 30-26, 25-30, 30-32, 33-31, 9-15.
“(Sean O’Malley) kept running under the ball,” said coach Al Scates, considering the rust factor. “But he saw it in video and he corrected it in warm-ups and got his rhythm back.”
The loss to the Tritons marks the first in the history between the two schools. The blemish on UCLA’s 44-0 record against UCSD is not one they are proud of. But it also was not one to get them down.
Scates insisted to his team after the loss Friday that a win against Long Beach could salvage the weekend and that the team press on.
And focus they did.
Engrossed in video footage of the UCSD match and of a previous match against Long Beach, the team nitpicked at every detail of their play Saturday morning before the match later that night.
The Bruins were able to bounce back against the 49ers, a feat that has slipped through their fingers in previous years; victory has eluded UCLA in The Pyramid for the last seven years. This first was one that the team was proud of.
“I told the boys last night that we could still have a great weekend if we beat Long Beach,” Scates said. “That’s what we would remember from this weekend.
“We did a good job of taking their tendencies and putting blockers where they wanted to hit the balls and take shots they didn’t like. The team followed the game plan every well.”
Additionally, O’Malley shook off the rust from Friday’s match against the Tritons and put together one of his best performances as a Bruin. Leading the charge with 19 kills, the outside hitter put down a 0.457 clip with only three errors. Middle blocker D.J. Stromath also played a key role in the victory, bringing in 13 kills at a 0.545 average.
“I think we’re back to where we were when we took off for finals,” Scates said. “We played a great game against BYU, so two thirds of the games have really been good. We’ve had a pretty good streak.”
The Bruins hope to keep the momentum going this week against UC Santa Barbara and Cal State Northridge.