Men’s volleyball aims for Hawai’i upset, retaining winning streak

The road hasn’t been easy, but UCLA men’s volleyball has finally arrived at the finale of the regular season.

“This has not been a great season of health or everything going our way,” said coach John Speraw. “But the guys haven’t quit, and they know they’re capable of winning. It’s not going to be a traditional path, but it’s still available to us.”

The No. 6 Bruins (17-7, 10-6 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) will host their final conference matches against the No. 4 Hawai’i Rainbow Warriors (22-4, 12-4 MPSF) in the John Wooden Center this weekend.

Following a five-set victory over Cal Baptist on Saturday, UCLA extended its win streak to seven games, matching its longest string of wins this season.

[Related: Men’s volleyball takes down Cal Baptist in five sets]

“I’ve been really pleased with the attitude,” Speraw said. “When you get yourself in this position, you could get discouraged, you could get down, you could quit. I think the guys have played with a lot of resolve and I’ve seen a lot of great energy, particularly at times when it isn’t typically there.”

The Rainbow Warriors have been victorious in the last three regular season matches when the two teams have played in Westwood, including a series sweep two years ago. No. 1 Long Beach State and No. 3 BYU, the two highest-ranked teams in the league, have delivered Hawai’i its only four losses so far this season.

“Hawai’i is a very good team – they scrap, they play hard and they play for each other,” said senior setter Hagen Smith. “Their energy is going to be something that we’ll have to combat through our mental strength.”

The Rainbow Warriors finished with an undefeated home schedule, and are led offensively by sophomore opposite Stijn van Tilburg, who has been averaging 4.47 kills per set.

“I think the challenge on us is just the serve and pass game,” said junior outside hitter Jake Arnitz, who posted a season-high 21 kills against Cal Baptist. “If we figure out how to put the two and two together, I think we’d hold the power.”

These two matches will be important in determining both teams’ standings going into the MPSF Tournament quarterfinals next week. In order to nab the No. 3 seed, Hawai’i either needs to beat UCLA or hope for a UC Irvine loss.

“I think the (Rainbow Warriors) are in a position to do something special because of their record right now,” Speraw said. “I’m anticipating a pretty well-polished team at the end of the year who’s playing good volleyball. For us, it’s been a little different.”

Speraw said teams are typically unsuccessful when they frequently switch around their lineup, much like the Bruins have been recently doing. Regardless, UCLA has been riding its longest win streak of the season and could potentially notch the third seed going into post-conference play if it comes out on top against Hawai’i. It will also depend on UC Irvine’s performance in the last stretch of the season.

“Anything can happen at this point. We could finish up third, which is crazy if you think about what we’ve gone through this year,” Speraw said. “The odds still exist, so we’re going to play those odds and see what happens.”