The players were spending more time on the sidelines than usual
““ on the sidelines making point-saving digs, that is ““
during Wednesday’s men’s volleyball match between UCLA
and UC Irvine. Players from both teams were hustling to make saves
over the press tables and by team benches. But the most spectacular
save came when Bruin Marcin Jagoda went around the first row of
press tables and into the first row of the stands to save a key
point for UCLA ““ a point that would help the Bruins win the
match-clinching fourth game of their 3-1 (27-30, 30-27, 30-23,
30-28) victory. “When I hit it up, I thought it was going
out,” sophomore outside hitter Damien Scott said. “But
Jagoda somehow ran it down. It was an awesome effort.”
Jagoda’s save sparked a Bruin run. In the fourth game, UCLA
was down 18-14 before winning four straight points to tie the game
at 18-18. But earlier in the match, the Bruins needed a different
spark ““ this was even more unlikely. UCLA (18-4, 12-4 MPSF)
was getting all it could take from a UC Irvine (8-15, 4-12) team
having a subpar year. The Bruins lost the first game, narrowly won
the second, and were losing 20-15 in the third. UCLA coach Al
Scates made a substitution, and put seldom-used Scott into the
game. Scott made an immediate impact, as the Bruins won eight of
the next nine points and were aided by several key digs and passes
by Scott. His serving helped UCLA finish off the Anteaters in the
third game ““ the Bruins won the final seven points of the
game on Scott’s serve. “Damien Scott was
fantastic,” Scates said. “He dug, passed and blocked
well. He had a couple of good touches on the ball, too.”
Scott was used so rarely before Wednesday’s match that he
didn’t even always suit up. Only 12 players can be in uniform
for a match, and Scates has 23 players on his roster. “If
Scott hadn’t been suited up, we wouldn’t have won the
match,” Scates said.
MATCHDAY STRATEGY: Efforts like Scott’s,
Jagoda’s and J.T. Wenger’s team-high 18 kills helped
the Bruins finish off the Anteaters. But the Bruins got off to a
rocky start the first two games. Beau Peters had started at setter
for UCLA, but was pulled early in the first game. In less than half
of a game, Peters was called on a mishandled ball violation three
times. Scates believed that referee Kim Pickering was making the
calls because there was spin on the ball ““ something Peters
does naturally in his sets. Dennis Gonzalez, who played his second
match since coming back from a strained quadricep injury, took
Peters’ place and set the Bruins to victory. “For the
world’s best setters, the balls spin a little,” Scates
said. “Three calls was too much for me.” Scates also
kept regular starter Steve Klosterman on the bench until the start
of the second game. Scates benched the freshman opposite because he
has gotten off to slow starts all year long. Klosterman
didn’t respond to Scates’ strategy, as he only hit .278
for the match. Despite all of the unusual strategy Scates had to
use, the win was huge for the Bruins, who do not play another match
until March 30 against USC at Pauley Pavilion.
MPSF UPDATE: With six matches left in the MPSF
schedule, Wednesday’s win keeps UCLA (12-4 MPSF) at third
place in the standings, half a game behind No. 2 Long Beach State
(12-3) and three games back in the loss column behind No. 1 BYU
(15-1). The Bruins hope to host at least part of the MPSF
Tournament. The top four teams in the standings get to host
first-round matches, and the top team in the MPSF gets to host the
semifinals and championship. “We have to get home-court
advantage, at least for the first round,” Scates said. UCLA
is two games ahead of both Hawai’i (10-6) and Cal State
Northridge (9-5), who are tied for fourth place. BYU comes to
Pauley Pavilion for two matches from April 8 through 9.