With three years of experience under his belt, senior libero Tony Ker has been a starter for as many years as the six other current Bruin starters combined.
But the youth of the men’s volleyball team did not stop them from having a successful weekend at the third annual SAC Tournament at UCLA, in which they defeated Long Beach State 30-23, 30-27, 30-21 and UC Santa Barbara 30-21, 20-30, 24-30, 30-24, 15-7, but lost to Cal State Northridge 27-30, 24-30, 30-25, 29-31.
“I tell all my teammates all the time how old I feel,” Ker said. “Of course having the most experience on the team makes me feel I need to take them under my wing. It’s a fun experience being the oldest guy and getting to be the leader and getting to look after everyone.”
Under the leadership of their team captain, the Bruins were able to put together a solid effort in their first matches of the 2007-2008 season.
The two opposites, returning starter Brett Perrine and Sean O’Malley, were the “brightest spots” of the tournament, according to coach Al Scates, as well as incoming freshman middle blocker Wes Dunlap.
With Jamie Diefenbach absent from the tournament as he was attending a family wedding, and Perrine moving to the right side, two spots opened up in the middle. And after his play in the tournament, Dunlap solidified his spot in the starting lineup, impressing both his coach and his teammates.
“It’s nice to have someone out there that’s a freshman that’s intelligent and gets the game,” Ker said. “He’s putting balls away for us, so you can’t complain about that.”
It was the first time suiting up for Division I collegiate volleyball for Dunlap and a couple other Bruins this weekend, yet they performed well and made show-stopping plays.
“It started out pretty nerve-racking, but I got used to it,” Dunlap said.
Coming off the bench, another not-so-newcomer, redshirt sophomore Jeff Woodley, picked up several huge digs and put down a few momentum-changing kills and blocks that fired up his teammates. Dunlap and Woodley both put down three blocks against Long Beach State on Friday.
“It’s nice to get a chance to work in the program with a lot of guys,” said Woodley, who has been on the second practice court for his first two years on the team. “Everyone’s just working hard, trying to get an opportunity to play. It’s nice to suit up and help out the team.”
“Woodley, he’s a blocking machine right now,” Ker said. “Every time the ball gets hit to him, he’s just housing people straight down. It’s really nice to have him come off the bench and have that fire, especially when the team’s dead and it’s been kind of a slow game.”