ONLINE EXTRA: Bruins threatened by unknown enemy

  MARY HOLSCHER Sophomore Chris Peña
spikes the ball against Pepperdine last week.

By Daniel Miller
Daily Bruin Contributor

Each week, the top-ranked UCLA men’s volleyball team is
put to more difficult tests and plays under greater strain, but so
far the team has thrived under the pressure.

The banged up Bruins (11-1, 6-0 MPSF) travel to the Bay Area
this weekend, where they face Pacific (3-9, 1-7) tonight at the
Spanos Center and face Stanford Saturday in Palo Alto.
Unfortunetly, freshman outside hitter Jonathan Acosta will not make
the trip, as he is out for at least another week with a muscle tear
in his stomach.

In addition to the ongoing challenge of playing without Acosta,
sophomore outside hitter Parker Smith broke his finger in practice
this week and will be out for up to six weeks. Smith has received
playing time of late due to injuries at that position. True
freshman Kris Kraushaar, a 6 foot-7 southpaw, will play in place of
Smith.

“We have a bunch of injured outside hitters, and our coach
is trying to hold us together,” sophomore middle blocker
Chris Peña said. “Kraushaar is playing really well. I
think we’ll be all right.”

According to assistant coach John Speraw, Pacific is much more
talented than its record suggests, and the fact that UCLA knows
little about the Tigers makes that match one not to be taken
lightly.

“They have a great setter and very good talent,”
Speraw said. “We expect them to play very tough.”

Against Stanford, the Bruins will face junior All-American Curt
Toppel, who leads the Cardinal with 5.4 kills per game.

The Bruins beat Stanford in preseason play last fall, but the
Cardinal was without Toppel.

“Stanford is a really good team with a lot of young
talent,” junior middle blocker Scott Morrow said. “We
are going to have a lot of new players on the court without a lot
of experience, so it will be a good, tough match.”

Sophomore outside hitter Jesse Debban is still out with a knee
injury, and senior outside hitter Matt Komer is suffering from
tendinitis, but it will not affect his play.

Junior outside hitter Cameron Mount was named the AVCA National
Player of the Week after leading the Bruins to victory over No. 2
Pepperdine last week with 21 kills.

With strong production from several role players and a breakout
week for Mount, the Bruins are poised to make the loss of several
athletes a non-factor.