Men’s volleyball freshmen focus on consistency ahead of weekend games

The majority of the UCLA student body is plodding its way through midterm season while the men’s volleyball team takes a crash course in resilience.

The Bruins are 1-4 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation after dropping multiple matchups against some of the league’s highest-rated teams, including back-to-back losses against No. 7 Brigham Young University to open conference play.

UCLA knows it is a young team – its four freshmen players comprise half of the starting lineup. The consequence of its youth lies in its lack of consistency.

“Most important thing we need to work on is how hard we are willing to work in order to win,” said coach John Speraw. “That needs to be demonstrated in how willing we are to compete every single point and maintain that level of focus necessary to win in this league.”

The Bruins (5-4, 1-4 MPSF) have shown hints of the team they could be over the course of their first five league games. UCLA’s first loss to BYU – a 3-0 sweep with set scores of 25-12, 25-17 and 25-17 – spurred the team to come back the next night and fight a closer contest, eventually losing 3-1.

After a disastrous 25-10 first set loss against Pepperdine a week later, UCLA attempted to stage a late-game comeback, dropping the next two sets by closer margins of 25-20 and 25-23.

The Bruins played their best volleyball this season Wednesday night in a 25-17 first-set victory over the Long Beach State 49ers. UCLA followed this performance by dropping three-straight sets to lose the game 3-1. Freshman outside hitter J.T. Hatch said the solution to UCLA’s problems is simple: The team needs to play harder.

UCLA will look to find a way to piece together its fleeting moments of high-level play into consistent sets of well-played volleyball in Friday night’s matchup against Cal State Northridge, a team that defeated the Bruins in five sets late last season.

The Matadors are unranked, but sit at 3-3 in the season so far, coming off a 3-1 defeat of No. 8 UC Santa Barbara.

One of the keys to victory over CSUN will be team integration. A persistent problem for UCLA is connecting on plays, as the team struggles with hitting errors and inaccuracy – its comebacks against Long Beach State largely stymied by hitting into the net, blocking out of bounds and overhitting.

For the Bruins to win, they will need everyone on the roster to get involved, including freshman setter Eric Matheis, a recent addition to the starting lineup.

“It’s always hard after a loss. We need to gather ourselves and get our minds right,” Matheis said. “We need to get back to where we need to be, where we should be.”