Win 1,200 eludes Bruins at USC
Redshirt sophomore opposite Jack Polales led the No. 7 Bruins with 13 kills during Saturday’s three-set loss at USC’s Galen Center.
By Daily Bruin Staff
April 4, 2010 9:57 p.m.
Saturday night’s men’s volleyball match between UCLA and USC had all of fixings that define the crosstown rivalry: tremendous fan support on both sides, plenty of unkind words exchanged between benches, and two of the great coaching minds in collegiate volleyball.
The one element that Saturday’s match lacked, however, was closeness. This one definitely didn’t include a down-to-the-wire finish or a nail-biting rally to decide the match.
The No. 6 Trojans (13-9, 10-8 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) completely dismantled the No. 7 Bruins (14-11, 9-9 MPSF) in straight sets, 30-26, 30-21, 30-23. The loss resulted in the second missed opportunity of the week for coach Al Scates to nab his 1,200th win. Scates didn’t have much to say about that elusive 1,200th win after the match.
“I’ll be looking for it against Long Beach next Friday,” Scates said. “Fortunately, we’re going to have four days of practice to prepare.”
Senior setter Kevin Ker said that he’s disappointed the Bruins weren’t able to lock up No. 1,200 for Scates.
“He talks about it all the time and he was pumping it up this week because we had two big games and he was hoping to beat one of these teams, but we’ll just have to go get it sometime next week,” Ker said.
The rivals were tied for sixth place in the MPSF standing coming into the match. The loss puts the Bruins in seventh place, dangerously close to falling out of contention for a playoff spot, as only the top eight teams make it to the MPSF tournament.
After the match, most of the Bruins hustled from the locker room to the bus in an attempt to leave the Galen Center and their performance in the rivalry match behind them.
“It’s never fun to lose to USC,” Ker said. “It’s crunch time in the next five (matches). We need to start winning some games so we can make the playoffs. They came out with a lot more fire than we did tonight and it showed when you look at the score.”
Most of the Bruins’ ineffectiveness on Saturday could be attributed to their issues on the block. They entered the third set with one total team block.
“It was tough to watch our blocking,” Scates said. “It wasn’t there tonight. We weren’t getting over the net fast enough. We were getting over the net after they hit the ball and that went on all night. We just couldn’t get over before they hit it. I don’t know why, but we’re really going to work on that next week.”
The Bruins hit for a dismal .196 clip, compared to the Trojans’ .423. Junior opposite Murphy Troy led the way for the Trojans with 18 kills. Redshirt sophomore opposite Jack Polales was the Bruins’ kill leader with 13.
The Bruins had many issues in the serving game as well. UCLA hit just two aces while they smacked 10 errors and had a flat serving game overall. Ker said that the Bruins couldn’t recover after a slow start.
“Once we started getting down, we usually fire back right away but we started getting a little timid and they were getting easy passes and putting them away,” Ker said.
Scates also noted that he will have his team work on serving this week in practice as they prepare for Long Beach State.
“We’ll work a lot on our serving (this) week so that the players can hit certain areas of the court, which, obviously, we couldn’t do tonight,” Scats said.
Bumps and Bruises
Injuries and academic issues continue to plague the Bruins. Five players missed Saturday’s game including outside hitter Dylan Bowermaster and quick hitter Nick Vogel. Bowermaster left practice Friday with a knee injury and Scates opted for the combination of Weston Dunlap and Brett Perinne in place of Vogel because he was “just off in practice.”
Jeremy Casebeer’s ankle limited what he could do at the outside hitter position as well. Additionally, setter Kyle Caldwell and outside hitter Mitchel Johnson have been ruled academically ineligible.
Scates said he’s still searching for a lineup that will bring consistency.
“I don’t want to experiment with the lineup. I want a set lineup but if guys aren’t playing well, we have to substitute. When we start winning again, you won’t see any changes in the lineup,” he said.
