UCLA men’s volleyball loses to UC Santa Barbara 3-0
Freshman outside hitter Michael Fisher explained that UCLA was lacking in its defensive play on Wednesday night. (Austin Yu/Daily Bruin)
By Claire Fahy
March 6, 2014 12:46 a.m.
UCLA men’s volleyball is currently suffering through an array of injuries – sprained ankles, stress fractures and tendonitis to name a few – but it was defense during its 3-0 loss to UC Santa Barbara Wednesday night that was the team’s true achilles heel.
With five players – four of which were starters – nursing injuries, UCLA needed to dig deep Wednesday to pull out a victory. Instead, the Bruins’ hitting was under par for the third consecutive game and the Gauchos out-blocked the team by a significant margin.
While other teams in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation have found ways to shut down the Bruins’ strong offensive game with an equally forceful defense, UCLA has struggled to rise to the challenge of supplementing their offensive strength with defensive prowess.
“We have to become a much better defensive team,” said coach John Speraw. “The last three matches we have just been, in my opinion, quite poor defensively in both understanding what we need to do tactically and executing on some of the fundamentals. Teams are really beating us up and we aren’t in a position where we can challenge them in any particular way with what they’re doing offensively.”
UCLA dropped in the national rankings to the No. 5 spot this week, its lowest ranking since January. While the team stands at No. 4 in the MPSF, the team cannot afford to drop more games against lower-ranking opponents as they embark on the second half of the season. The key to preventing such defeat lies in strengthening its greatest weaknesses in defense.
“We didn’t execute blocking-wise very well and then when we were executing we just weren’t getting digs,” said freshman outside hitter Michael Fisher, who started the past two games in place of injured players. “We’ve just got to get back in the gym and focus on doing those little things – being ready on defense, expecting the unexpected and trying to get balls up.”
Fellow freshman setter Hagen Smith agreed with Fisher, saying the team has to be “in a more defensive state of mind.”
By the team’s own admission, the Bruins have been dominated by their opponents in the last three games, forcing UCLA into an unfamiliar losing streak. When asked what his team did well despite being outplayed by No. 4 UCSB, Speraw answered quite simply: “Nothing.”
“There wasn’t one skill, not one, that we did well tonight,” Speraw said. “The key to being successful in any season is being as diverse as you can and, if you’re not, how you change and adapt. I think we’re going to have to continue to diversify our attack.”
The Bruins have proven over the past week that they are far from invincible. A team that looked flawless during its early season nine-game win streak has shown that they too have its weaknesses. The question is if those weaknesses will continue to be the chink in UCLA’s armor or if the Bruins can find a way to fight past them.
