Men’s volleyball to host Pepperdine in MPSF playoff match

UCLA is the most successful men’s volleyball program in NCAA history, but you wouldn’t know it by looking at recent years. The Bruins have failed to win a playoff match since they last lifted the national championship trophy back in 2006.

“Somebody mentioned that recently, but it’s just an interesting fact that has no bearing on how we’re going to play on Saturday,” said coach John Speraw. “Those were different years, those were different teams.”

This year’s team has an opportunity to put an end to that drought though, as No. 4 UCLA (20-10, 16-8 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) will face No. 5 Pepperdine (14-11, 13-11) on Saturday night in the first round of the quarterfinals of the MPSF tournament.

The Bruins will be favored to advance, largely due to the fact that they’ve won both of their previous meetings against the Waves this year without dropping a set.

“We played great in those matches, mostly because we were prepared to an incredible extent,” said redshirt junior setter Connor Bannan. “Now we’re going to look over what’s worked in the past, look at what they might try to do against us, maybe do some reverse scouting and then just go from there. We’re going to be ready.”

Not only have the Bruins dominated their last two games against the Waves, but they’re also riding a hot streak in which they have won nine out of their last 10 games.

While some may think the eight-day layoff between the regular season and playoffs is a possible momentum-killer, the Bruins are just looking at it as more time to prepare.

“It’s definitely a good thing for us because it allows us to have a solid full three days of training before we kind of have to ease off a little bit,” said redshirt freshman middle blocker Trent Kersten. “We haven’t had that kind of break for a while.”

Another factor working in the Bruins’ favor is home court advantage, although it comes in an irregular manner. Instead of playing in customary Pauley Pavilion, the match will take place within the smaller confines of the John Wooden Center. The Bruins have only played at Wooden twice all year, but the team thinks the venue – like the layoff – won’t be a problem.

“I think we’ve come to really like Pauley but we loved playing in Wooden last year,” said Kersten. “Everything’s so close to the court, it’s so loud, and it’s just a blast to play there.”

A victory against Pepperdine would most likely set up a meeting in the conference semifinals against top-ranked BYU. The Bruins are definitely aware of this potential matchup, but they’re making sure not to look too far ahead.

“You’d like to hope you have that opportunity down the road, and from a staff point of view we have to be ahead of the game,” said Speraw. “But as far as the players are concerned and what we talk about at practice, we focus on one thing and that’s beating Pepperdine.”