UCLA hopes to show no love to CSUN

  BRIDGET O’BRIEN/Daily Bruin Senior Staff Sophomores
Rich Nelson and Scott Morrow
playing against USC MEN’S VOLLEYBALL vs.
Men’s Volleyball Today 7 P.M. Pauley Pavilion

By Amanda Fletcher
Daily Bruin Senior Staff

Although it’s Valentines Day, No. 1 UCLA won’t be
showing any love as they take on No. 14 Cal State Northridge (3-8,
0-6 MPSF) at 7 p.m. in Pauley Pavilion.

But the Bruins (6-3, 2-1 MPSF) will welcome back senior captain
Mark Williams. Sidelined since Jan. 17 with a high ankle sprain,
Williams wore an ankle brace during practice Monday and
Thursday.

“He won’t have his normal jump but (the brace) does
a pretty good job of allowing him to play,” Head coach Al
Scates said. “It remains to be seen whether he can hit and
jump serve.”

What isn’t doubtful is that Williams, who will hit outside
in place of the injured Matt Komer, will provide valuable
leadership on the court.

“He’s the captain, he’s in there all the
time,” Scates said. “This will give us more consistent
leadership.”

This may be an important factor considering Northridge upset the
Bruins 3-1 last year when captain and All-American setter Brandon
Taliaferro was out with a hurt back. The game was one of
then-freshman setter Rich Nelson’s first career starts.

“Last year was one of my first times starting with the
team so I take responsibility,” Nelson said. “But this
year we’re so ready for them. The team has been playing
really well and improving everyday.”

This improvement is evident in the Bruins recent wins over No. 5
Pepperdine and No. 7 USC.

“I think that over the last couple of games we’ve
really improved on our defense and blocking and that’s going
to carry over to the Northridge game,” sophomore quick hitter
Scott Morrow said.

The Bruins have already defeated Northridge once this season in
the second match of the Irvine Wyndham Gardens Hotels Invitational
on Jan. 13. In the match, Morrow had a career-high 12 blocks.

Since then, the Matadors have had a rough season losing to six
top 10 teams including three game sweeps by No. 2 BYU, No. 4
Stanford, USC and No. 6 Hawai’i, which beat them three times.
They also lost to No. 3 Long Beach State 1-3.

But the Matadors are not without weapons.

“They have one player who gets over five kills a game and
hit over .300 against Hawai’i,” Scates said.

That one player is sophomore outside hitter Joe Nargi, who leads
the team with 100 kills in 23 games played.

“It looks to me like he’s the main man so
we’ll be aware of where he is all the time and try to keep
two blockers on him,” Scates added.

Prepared as they are, playing volleyball may not be the way some
of them want to spend their Valentine’s Day evening. But with
a win and a clearer sense of the team with Williams back, the night
might be just as fulfilling.