Volleyball looks to upset UC Irvine
By Farzad Mashhood
April 24, 2009 11:37 a.m.
The men’s volleyball team has had a difficult year, but it’s ready to bring a new intensity when it begins the MPSF Tournament on Saturday night against UC Irvine.
The No. 9 Bruins (14-15, 10-12 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) stumbled into the tournament as the eighth and final seed and will face the regular season MPSF champions, the No. 1 Anteaters (24-4, 19-3).
UCLA has lost all three of its matches against UCI this season, but senior setter Matt Wade stressed that Saturday’s match will have more riding on it.
“The other times, it was just league matches,” Wade said. “(We were) coming into those games thinking … if you lose it’s not the end of the world.”
The Bruins will need to win Saturday to continue in the MPSF Tournament and make a case for their appearance in the NCAA Tournament.
And the Bruins have had all week to practice and prepare for the Anteaters.
“We haven’t had a week like this … since after winter finals,” coach Al Scates said. “This was nice, we needed this.”
“Every single guy at practice this week is … working really hard,” Wade said. “I think we’re going to be ready for this game.”
During a scrimmage at Tuesday’s practice, players showed unusually high energy. Redshirt senior quick hitter Jamie Diefenbach celebrated each successful play by running around the court and pumping up his teammates.
“It’s playoff time, so we’re just trying to raise the intensity,” Diefenbach said. “Now is the time to leave it all out there.”
Despite coming in the tournament as the lowest seed, the Bruins do not have low expectations. Many of the Bruins’ losses came with critical starters absent due to injuries. All season, Scates has stressed making it to the MPSF Tournament. With all their starters at full strength, the Bruins’ recent wins indicate they could peak. The Bruins enter having won six of their last nine matches.
“We got some more players back, and we’ve got guys playing different positions,” Diefenbach said. “So as the year has progressed, I think we have started to play better volleyball. Hopefully we are playing our best volleyball this time of the year.”
