Coming off their victory against defending NCAA champion Lewis
on Wednesday, the No. 1 Bruins continue their three-game homestand
this weekend with two important conference matches against Pacific
and No. 12 Stanford.
The Bruins (14-3, 8-3 MPSF) head into the matches having won
five of their last six, and coach Al Scates hopes weekend victories
will allow his team to gain even more momentum heading into the
MPSF conference tournament.
The Bruins have already faced both Pacific (4-13, 2-10) and
Stanford (6-11, 3-9) this season, splitting the two matches on the
road in early January, at the beginning of the season.
“The loss against Stanford was our first league
match,” assistant coach Mike Sealy said. “We had some
jitters, but we have gotten a lot better since then, and I expect a
very different result this time around.”
While the Bruins have rebounded nicely since their first
conference weekend, both Pacific and Stanford have struggled
mightily, each losing seven of their last nine matches.
“Despite their poor records, they are not to be taken
lightly,” Sealy said. “The bottom line is that everyone
wants to beat UCLA.”
Two players the Bruins must watch out for over the weekend are
Pacific outside hitter Nils Dauburs and Stanford setter Kevin
Hansen.
Dauburs, an international player from Latvia, leads the Tigers
with 187 kills. Dauburs led Pacific with 14 kills in the previous
match against the Bruins.
“Dauburs is an extremely polished player with lots of
experience,” Scates said. “He is a player that we need
to watch.”
Hansen leads the Cardinal with 688 assists. He had 49 assists
and seven kills in his last match against the Bruins.
“Hansen is a phenomenal athlete,” UCLA middle
blocker Paul Johnson said. “His ability to spike the ball
makes it harder for our blockers.”
Meanwhile, the Bruins have had some interesting developments.
Setter Dennis Gonzalez is still injured and listed as day-to-day
with an aggravated quadriceps muscle. Gonzalez was evaluated at
Thursday’s practice, but his availability is still
unclear.
The outside hitter position is also up for grabs, as Damien
Scott and
J.T. Wenger have both started in recent matches at the
position.
“We will make a game-time decision on who will be
starting,” Scates said. “Scott played well against
Lewis, but J.T. has had some success against Pacific in the
past.”