MEN’S VOLLEYBALL Today, 7 p.m. v. Hawai’i
Pauley Pavilion
The men’s volleyball team usually gets a few weeks to let
a match soak in before it must face the same opponent later in the
season. But this week, the turnaround time is exactly one day.
After defeating No. 9 Hawai’i (2-5, 2-3 Mountain Pacific
Sports Federation) in four games Wednesday, the No. 8 Bruins (4-6,
2-5) must hop right back onto their horse and ready themselves for
battle with the Rainbow Warriors once again. And beating an
aggressive Warrior team twice will be no easy ordeal. UCLA is
looking to use the 24-plus hours, which will include practice and
video-reviewing, to its fullest extent, looking for any fine-tuning
that needs to be done.
“Hawai’i is a really good team,” middle
blocker Jamie Diefenbach said. “They have a lot of guys that
play really good volleyball. They’re going to come back here
and have another chance to play so we can’t have any let
down. They’ll be coming for us.”
Some obvious adjustments must be made, including suppressing
Warrior outside hitter Jim Clar, who took charge of the
Hawai’i offense. The sophomore led all players with 22 kills
Wednesday, and the Bruins can be sure he will be big once again
tonight.
“Boy, he really hurt us,” UCLA coach Al Scates said.
“He’s a good hard hitter and he sees the block well,
too. We’ve never seen him before, but I think we’ll do
a better job with him (this) time.”
Outside Lauri Hakala, who got off to a slow start, eventually
turned up the heat as well as the match wore on. He certainly made
his presence known on the left side, putting down 16 kills on the
night. And although Hakala is playing in a different position from
what the Bruins saw last season, they know he is always a threat
and will be looking to contain him along with Clar.
The Warriors also out-blocked UCLA 18.5 to 11.5, led by middle
blocker Dio Dante, who put up 11 blocks, and setter Brian Beckwith,
who added eight. When the Hawai’i rotation features the two
together, they are a force to be reckoned with. The Bruins are
hoping to contend with a stronger blocking presence of their own
tonight, in hopes that it will result in win No. 3 in league
play.
“We weren’t blocking very well pretty much the whole
game,” middle blocker Brett Perrine said. “Our blocking
and our defense are the biggest keys to work on.”
Scates thinks his team’s offense can also use a little
tweaking, and the coach said more balls should go out to freshman
Garrett Muagututia on the left side. The true freshman has had a
steady arm for the Bruins this season, leading the team with 3.62
kills a game. He fronted the Bruin offense with 15 kills Wednesday
after receiving 25 sets. Three other Bruins were given more sets
than Muagututia.
With all these modifications, the Bruins are hoping it will be
enough to contain the Warriors, who will undoubtedly have a
different game plan as well.