Men’s volleyball to battle Stanford for MPSF tournament berth
Redshirt freshman middle blocker Eric Sprague said the Bruins have been developing into a blocking team this season. (Hannah Ye/Daily Bruin)
By Claire Fahy
April 17, 2015 1:46 a.m.
As practice wound down Wednesday night in Pauley Pavilion, UCLA men’s volleyball redshirt freshman middle blocker Eric Sprague elevated for a kill. His palm connected perfectly with the volleyball, setting it on a course to slam down into the hardwood floor on the other side of the net.
The screech of shoes on hardwood, a grunt of exertion and a loud smack and the ball found the floor – right next to Sprague. Redshirt junior middle blocker Trent Kersten yelled emphatically and pumped his fist. It was neither his first nor last block of the scrimmage.
“Our middles have been doing a really good job blocking – Trent destroyed me today in practice with blocking,” Sprague said. “We might consider ourselves a blocking team – that’s one of the skills that we pride ourselves on a lot.”
No. 12 UCLA (12-13, 8-13 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) faces No. 14 Stanford (10-16, 7-13) Friday in a matchup that is both the last game of the conference season and the Bruins’ last chance for an MPSF tournament berth.
“The biggest challenge, I think, is that both teams have their playoff hopes on the line so you’re going to see a playoff atmosphere the week before the playoffs start,” said coach John Speraw.
The two teams square off this week looking much different than they did in January, when UCLA won 3-0. The Bruins have lost sophomore setter Hagen Smith to a season-ending hand injury and the Cardinal is also down a setter as junior James Shaw now sits on the disabled list.
“I watched them on video and I was actually pretty impressed. I thought with the loss of Shaw that they wouldn’t be as good,” Speraw said. “They’re much better than certainly the last time we played them. I think they’re better, we’re better; I anticipate a pretty tight contest.”
Stanford is not the opponent UCLA faced at the start of the season. The Cardinal has switched up its game plan in the second half of the season.
“They’re going with a pretty unorthodox offense,” said sophomore libero Jackson Bantle. “We’re going to have to adjust and just play them to the best of our ability – get stops on defense and just worry about us and our side of the court.”
Over the course of the season, the Bruins have struggled against higher-ranked competition but excelled against evenly matched opponents. The Cardinal sit right next to the Bruins in both the MPSF and the national standings. While the game should be close, the Bruins have proven themselves capable of finishing out the season and making a run into the conference tournament.
