When the No. 1 UCLA men’s volleyball team (16-3, 10-3
MPSF) faces No. 15 UC San Diego (6 -13, 2-11) tonight, it will do
so without starting setter Dennis Gonzalez, who will miss his
fourth straight match due to a strained quadricep. Gonzalez did not
practice Monday and had an MRI on Tuesday. Fellow sophomore Beau
Peters, who played well last week in victories over Lewis, Pacific
and Stanford, will start in his place. “Peters has been
blocking well,” coach Al Scates said. “His footwork is
good. He is getting to the right spot.”
ACOSTA BACK: After battling appendicitis,
junior outside hitter Jonathan Acosta played his best match of the
season in the Bruins’ 3-2 win over Stanford on Saturday and
has regained his starting spot. Acosta first became ill Jan. 6 and
subsequently had surgery. While he played several times prior to
Saturday, when he had 15 kills, Acosta didn’t appear as
strong then. “He still is not at full strength, but he played
great (Saturday),” Scates said.
TWO’S COMPANY: UCLA no longer has sole
possession of the top ranking. The latest AVCA poll, released
Tuesday, has the Bruins and BYU tied for first. The Bruins received
nine first place votes to the Cougars’ seven, but the teams
tied with 231 total points.
SLOW START: UCLA dropped Game 1 before
prevailing 3-1 over UCSD in their last meeting Feb. 13. The Tritons
were led by outside hitter Jeff Urton, who had 15 kills, and middle
blocker Kevin Keyser, who hit .381. “They come out fast, and
they always have a great game plan,” Scates said. “They
know what they want to do and they are tough.”