Men’s volleyball will know its opponents only after this weekend’s games
Sophomore Thomas Amberg attempts to block an attack by Cal State Northridge senior Jacek Ratajczak during the Bruins’ 3-2 home win on Feb. 19. UCLA coach Al Scates said the Bruins will have the best chance against CSUN or Hawai’i in the postseason.
By Farzad Mashhood
April 14, 2010 9:29 p.m.
It’s that time of the year again.
With the men’s volleyball season entering its last weekend of regular season play, no team has a clue where it’s going to play.
One team has clinched one of the four first-round home court advantage and six teams have clinched one of the eight playoff berths. The two remaining spots are up for grabs among four teams.
The Mountain Pacific Sports Federation is easily the most competitive conference in the NCAA. The top 10 teams in the nation are in the MPSF, and teams from the bottom have beaten teams on top.
Stanford is the top team in the nation but Pepperdine, No. 5 in the nation, owns tiebreakers with the Cardinal. The Bruins, seventh in the conference and the nation, have beaten No. 2 Cal State Northridge twice.
“Our league is the super-league, and we’re an average team in the league,” Scates said.
UCLA is 10-10 in the league and has had trouble winning at home all season. The team’s near-perfect streak on the road was destroyed over the past two weeks by Pepperdine, USC and UC San Diego.
And when UCLA hosts Stanford and Pacific this weekend, the Bruins will have no idea where they will land for the opening round of the MPSF Tournament until after all the matches are played.
UCLA needs to win one of its matches this weekend or hope for a Long Beach State loss to Pepperdine tonight to clinch a playoff berth. And regardless of its performance this weekend, UCLA will find itself on the road for the rest of the year.
“We’re not in the playoffs yet,” Scates said.
“There’s no telling where we’re going to go. The top four teams host, but we don’t know who those teams are going to be because they’re all playing each other this weekend.”
Northridge will visit Brigham Young this weekend. Both teams are tied for second in the MPSF, but a pair of wins for either team can eliminate the other from having home court advantage.
As for the parity in the league, Scates’ assessment is simple:
“It’s unbelievable.”
If UCLA wins both matches this weekend, it will land the No. 6 seed in the tournament. There’s no telling who the Bruins will visit, however, and it’s even less apparent who will earn the coveted No. 1 seed.
And who is Scates rooting for to host his team?
“We probably have the best chance against Northridge and Hawai’i,” he said. The Bruins have won all three road games against those two teams this season.
