On the precipice of a new year, the UCLA men’s volleyball team finished off 2010 in style with a 4-1 exhibition win over McMaster at Pauley Pavilion on Thursday night.
“I thought we played really well tonight for our first game,” UCLA coach Al Scates said. “We really controlled the ball all game, and we hit really well, so I’m very pleased with the look of the team so far.”
The Marauders, who are from Ontario, Canada, were on an eight-match winning streak before facing the Bruins, who return 14 of their 17 players from the last year, including five of six starters. Unfortunately for the Bruins, two of those returning starters, junior quick hitter Thomas Amberg and junior setter Kyle Caldwell, went down with injuries during the first practices of the year. Amberg re-aggravated an injured finger that required 12 stitches, and Caldwell sustained a thumb injury that could keep him out for several weeks if ligament damage is found.
These injuries forced redshirt junior Alex Scattareggia to fill in at the setter position and true freshman Gonzalo Quiroga to step in as the outside hitter. This was a particularly unique situation for Quiroga, who just recently arrived at UCLA after graduating from high school in Argentina earlier this month.
“(Quiroga) is only 17 years old, and we had him doing all kinds of things in his first game,” Scates said. “We told him that he was going to play all over the court today, and he did a fantastic job.”
Quiroga ended with six kills and only one error.
UCLA won the first three sets 25-22, 25-15 and 31-29. Scates played his starters without making any substitutions in the opening three sets, during which the Bruins accumulated a hitting percentage above .350.
“We hit really well in those first three sets,” Scates said. “I mean we hit over .600 in that second set. That was some dominant hitting. We sort of slacked off a little in the third game because we were trying to hit it hard instead of hitting it in, but I was really happy with how our starters played today.”
Redshirt junior opposite Jack Polales led UCLA with 15 kills and six blocks while Scattareggia filled in admirably for Caldwell with 43 assists.
“Jack was doing well at the net tonight, and Alex did a great job distributing the ball,” Scates said. “I was really happy with how both of those guys played tonight.”
UCLA split the final two sets 25-19 and 13-15 while playing only reserves. The subs also played well, holding McMaster to a -.038 hit percentage in the fourth set while hitting .286 themselves.
“That’s going to be key this season,” Scates said of winning the hit percentage battle. “If we can win in hit percentage every game, we should be able to win at least 90 percent of our games, and that’s the goal.”