UCLA men’s volleyball looks to open season strong
Thomas Amberg and the No. 3 Bruins host the Cal State Northridge Matadors tonight at Pauley Pavilion. UCLA is currently on a four-match winning streak.
MEN’S VOLLEYBALL
Cal State Northridge
Today, 7 p.m.
Pauley Pavilion
Follow GameTracker on UCLABruins.com
After a strong preseason, No. 3 UCLA takes on Mountain Pacific Sports Federation rival No. 12 CSUN to open the season.
By Benjamin Kelly
Jan. 19, 2011 12:45 a.m.
With a healthy group and all the momentum it could hope for, the UCLA men’s volleyball team is looking forward to a very strong season.
The No. 3 Bruins (5-1) will host the No. 11 Cal State Northridge Matadors (2-3, 1-1 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) in the first league match of the season today after an impressive start to the year. UCLA won the Outrigger Hotels Invitational in Hawai’i over the weekend, easily taking care of Ball State, Penn State and Hawai’i, three nationally respected teams.
This week, the Bruins are feeling even stronger with a familiar face returning. Junior setter Kyle Caldwell, one of the team’s veteran players, will be back on the court.
“We played Penn State and Ball State, two of probably the best East Coast teams, and we beat them pretty easily,” senior libero Tom Hastings said. “That was without Kyle Caldwell. I think with Kyle in there, we wouldn’t have dropped a game.”
Caldwell suffered a thumb injury in late December and hadn’t practiced until Monday. Thanks to the play of redshirt junior Alex Scattareggia, who was able to step in as setter over the weekend, UCLA was able open its season with some important wins.
The Bruins’ serving was an area of concern as they were heading into the season, but if the team continues where it left off, that should be no problem. In their last three matches, the Bruins totaled 17 aces, and they have cut down on service errors.
“Now, it’s pretty much the little things,” Hastings said. “The covering, the free balls that we have to take care of. We’re all great athletes; we just need to get the little things down that adds up to big wins.”
Several players come into today’s match hoping to build on their recent success.
Redshirt junior outside hitter Jeremy Casebeer totaled 26 kills and nine block assists over the three matches in Hawai’i, while redshirt junior quick hitter Weston Dunlap also contributed 28 kills and 10 block assists. Freshman outside hitter Gonzalo Quiroga delivered six aces and executed some key defensive plays.
Another hot player, junior quick hitter Thomas Amberg, voiced his excitement for playing in Pauley Pavilion the first time this year.
“We’re starting our campaign at home,” he said. “We hope to get a nice win on the board for our fans and for ourselves because this is a really big year for us.”
Back in November, UCLA beat CSUN 3-0 in the SAC Tournament, but that was before either team was prepared to play in the MPSF, the nation’s most competitive league. Coach Al Scates believes this match will be entirely different but has no worries about where his team is headed.
“Each game we seem to get better and better,” Scates said. “It’s important for us to play these six preseason games before we start. We’re going to go in with a lot of experience.”
