Bruins hope to trample CSUN Matadors at home

UCLA men’s volleyball sits squarely in the middle of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation standings. With a 5-6 record, the Bruins are seventh in the league, two games behind the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos and three games behind the USC Trojans.

When the team takes on No. 14 Cal State Northridge on Tuesday, it has an opportunity to reach .500 for the first time this season.

Considering the challenges the Bruins faced to start conference play, the seventh-place spot holds promise. As UCLA navigated a tough opening stretch in which it had to take on MPSF threats Brigham Young University, Pepperdine and Stanford, the team had to integrate four rookies into its starting lineup and define an identity following the departure of multiple players.

“Some of those (ranked) teams have a little more skill that comes from some of the experience they have. That doesn’t mean we can’t attain that same level of skill, we just have to be much more mindful and focused in the practice gym in order to make some significant improvements and maybe at a faster rate than other teams,” said coach John Speraw. “That’s what we have to do, that’s the challenge that we have for the group of guys that don’t have as much time on the court.”

With 11 games left before the postseason, UCLA is set to perform far better in the second half of the season than in the first. The team is learning to utilize its depth effectively by varying its lineup, has made strong blocking a team characteristic and now faces all opponents except Hawai’i for the second time, balancing out the disadvantage the freshmen previously faced.

“The second half of the season has to be about us trying to develop some other skills and maybe develop one or two more strengths,” Speraw said.

One of those strengths, said sophomore setter Hagen Smith, needs to be communication. Now that the team has solidified its identity in being a strong defensive team, communication can aid the Bruins’ offense.

“Our communication hasn’t been that great to start the season and right now it’s gotten better,” Smith said. “I think being a good communicator is a really important part of winning these next few matches so I think that’s how I’m going to help.”

The next few matches will provide an indicator of how far the Bruins can hope to advance into the MPSF tournament and beyond to the NCAA championships.

The adversity the team faced early on has given valuable experience to a team that was considered young and immature in January. UCLA has now had time to evaluate its strengths and weaknesses in preparation for a postseason run.

“My goal for this season is to win, and I really want to win, but I really want to leave my jersey behind in a better place and leave the team behind in a better place,” said redshirt junior middle blocker Trent Kersten. “Hopefully when I leave there’s not a huge gap, so I want to empower these young guys and make them into really good leaders and really good seniors on the court. If I can do that then I will be really happy with what I’ve done here at UCLA.”