Final year a chance to leave a legacy

When one talks about UCLA volleyball’s team from last
season, the first thing mentioned is the heartbreaking five-game
loss to Pepperdine in the championship match.

That painstaking loss ended the careers of fabled seniors Paul
Johnson, Kris Kraushaar and Jonathan Acosta, who had been
instrumental parts of the program during their four years with the
team.

That loss is why this year’s seniors, Damien Scott, Paul
George, Dennis Gonzalez and Nick Scheftic, are working hard to make
sure this season ends differently.

“This is our final go around,” Scheftic said.
“We know that if we lose at anytime, our careers are
over.”

But this year’s seniors are much different than the ones
who graduated last year.

They saw very little playing time during their first three years
in the program and are now trying to create their own identity for
this season’s team.

“We were all watching from the bench during that
championship match,” outside hitter George said. “So
when we knew we had the chance to play against Pepperdine (on
Thursday), we knew we had to take advantage.”

And the seniors certainly proved their worth.

George led the Bruins in kills for the first time all season
with a game-high 16, and Scheftic had the highest hitting output of
the season.

The seniors in fact accounted for 11 of the Bruins’ 12.5
blocks in the game.

“They stepped it up when they needed to,” Gonzalez
said of his fellow seniors. “They were all over the net and
didn’t let the Waves didn’t any momentum.”

But it certainly didn’t come easy for the seniors this
season.

The Bruins began this year with the second-worst start in their
unparalleled history, and many of the seniors ““ including
Scott, George and Gonzalez ““ had been replaced in the lineup
by younger, unproven freshmen.

“I knew I didn’t want to end my career like
that,” George said. “I knew our team was better than
the way we were playing.”

The seniors’ season now comes down to Saturday, where the
Bruins will be playing for a trip to the Final Four.

They will be facing the Long Beach State 49ers, the team that
eliminated the Bruins in the playoffs two years ago.

But if their recent 11-match winning streak is any indication,
the Bruins and their seniors will be ready.

“I can’t wait,” Gonzalez said. “Our
backs against the wall, everything on the line, it’s all we
can ask for.”

AT-LARGE BID: After losing to Long Beach State
in the semifinals Thursday, UC Irvine coach John Speraw was
confident that the Anteaters would still get the conference’s
at-large bid.

The Anteaters finished the season with a 20-2 record and were
first in the conference standings.

“We definitely think we deserve that spot,” Speraw
said. “If you look at the criteria, we were the most
consistent team throughout the season, and we had a better won-loss
record against our close opponents.”

UCLA received the at-large bid last season after losing to Cal
State in the MPSF quarterfinals.