Outside Looking In

  CHRIS BACKLEY/Daily Bruin Jonathan
Acosta returns tomorrow night against UCSB.

By Daniel Miller
Daily Bruin Contributor

He seems sincere when he talks about the wisdom he gained from
being sidelined by an injury for most of the season. Yet, it is
obvious that beneath the façade, Jonathan Acosta just wants to
be on the court come match time.

The redshirt freshman star of the No. 3 UCLA men’s
volleyball team has had to watch much of the team’s success
the last two years from the bench, the result of an abdominal
muscle tear that he first suffered last year and has never fully
healed.

Acosta’s injury is the result of his unique hitting style.
Unlike most outside hitters who generate a powerful swing with
their arms, Acosta creates power from his torso, putting his whole
body into a shot, as well as a great deal of strain on his
abdomen.

“Being sidelined has been extremely frustrating
considering that this is the second time this injury has happened
to me,” Acosta said. “While I have learned about
volleyball by watching my teammates play, not being able to
contribute has been difficult. But, it has been great that other
guys have been able to step in and do the job.”

After a two-month hiatus, the normally reserved Acosta will be
able to unleash that frustration against UC Santa Barbara in the
Bruins’ first-round MPSF playoff match Saturday.

When has been healthy this season, Acosta has played very well,
garnering several accolades. He led UCLA to its fifth consecutive
Outrigger Hotels Invitational title and was the tournament MVP.

After that impressive performance, Acosta was named the AVCA
National Player of the Week, the MPSF Player of the Week and the
UCLA Athletics Player of the Week. Despite missing a very large
portion of the season, Acosta still leads the team with four kills
per game.

“His strength is that he is an outstanding all-around
player,” UCLA head coach Al Scates said.

“He’s our best outside blocker, and one of our best
players in terms of scoring points. He is also our best digger
besides our libero (Adam Shrader).”

Acosta grew up in Puerto Rico, near San Juan in Isla Verde, and
attended the high school Colegio San Ignacio before coming to UCLA,
one of the five schools he visited on a recruiting trip during high
school. Acosta, who began playing volleyball at the age of 10 and
played club volleyball in addition to high school volleyball,
visited Penn State, Ohio State, BYU and Stanford before he saw
UCLA. He was instantly captivated by the school’s campus and
volleyball tradition and coaching.

Had Acosta chosen to play at BYU, he would have been playing
with a family member, cousin Joaquin Acosta, a senior outside
hitter for the Cougars. The Bruins hosted No. 4 BYU for a pair of
matches Feb. 21 and 23 that the teams split, but Jonathan’s
injury prevented him from facing his cousin, who had 17 kills in
the Cougars’ 3-1 victory in the second match. Both Jonathan
and Joaquin are quick to point out that they have a very close
relationship.

“We never played club volleyball together because I am a
few years older,” Joaquin said. “We played each other
on the beaches in Puerto Rico, and we are like brothers. It would
have been fun to play against him (in the January matches). He is
really good right now and he’ll get even better, I hope he
gets healthy because he is a big help for the team.”

With Joaquin’s tenure at BYU ending after this season,
Jonathan will still be able to play NCAA volleyball with another
family member next year as his younger brother Matthew, also an
outside hitter, will join the Bruins next year.

“I think it will be a lot of fun with him on the
team,” Jonathan said. “Because of our
two-and-a-half-year age difference growing up, we never played
together in high school. But, when we played at home for fun, it
got competitive.”

With senior outside hitter Matt Komer graduating, Scates said
that Acosta is capable of playing Komer’s position, which
requires a great deal of adept passing. Do his teammates think he
can fill the only hole in next year’s lineup?

“He’s a great jumper and a really good all-around
player, so he can do a lot,” junior middle blocker Scott
Morrow said. “We are definitely looking for him to step up
later this year and especially next year.”

Like most collegiate stars, Acosta would like to pursue his
sport at a professional level. While he would love to play in
Europe, he seems more set on playing beach volleyball in the United
States. Two-man beach volleyball requires athletes to be great
all-around players, a trait Acosta clearly possesses.

For the time being, those aspirations will be put on the back
burner so that Acosta can concentrate on doing the one thing he
loves to do so much ““ the one thing that he has not done
consistently for some time ““ play.