Men’s volleyball coach Al Scates leads team to victory in last home game of his career

After 50 years, more than 1,200 wins and an unmatched reputation in the volleyball world, UCLA coach Al Scates coached his final regular season home game ever on Saturday night.

Former players and assistant coaches of Scates came in full force to support arguably the greatest collegiate volleyball coach ever.

But even the legendary Scates couldn’t fully grasp the drama that began his final regular season night at home.

No. 3 UCLA (21-6, 15-5 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) began the night against No. 4 BYU (21-6, 17-5) tied at 16-16 in the decisive fifth set in a continuation of Friday night’s match.

A night earlier, BYU’s close in/out serve at match point, 16-15 in the fifth set, erupted in widespread controversy.

Eventually a replay of the point ensued, and the Bruins capitalized for the match win.

The madness, however, did not stop there.

Hours before Saturday’s night match, an MPSF ruling awarded a complete replay beginning from 16-16, thus wiping away UCLA’s win.

Redshirt senior outside hitter Jeremy Casebeer’s reaction to the surprise turn of events was as would be expected.

“(I was) shocked. That’s the best way to put it. I’ve never ever once heard of anything like that in my life. I talked to a couple of the referees, Scates and all the coaches who’ve been in the game for decades, and they’ve never heard of anything like it,” Casebeer said.

But the Cougars promptly put away the first two points to take the match and serve a crushing blow to the Bruins.

UCLA, though, had to turn it around quickly with senior night ceremonies and another match against BYU about to get underway.

“We kind of brought ourselves and said, “˜We’re not going out like this. That already happened, and we can’t change what happened. It sucks, but you know it’s part of the game,'” senior setter Kyle Caldwell said.

Behind their newfound spark, UCLA came out determined to finish things off right against BYU.

“There are so many people who came out to see us, especially the alumni. And we don’t want to disappoint them. Especially being our senior night and Scates’ last home game, there’s no way we were going to let up,” senior quick hitter Weston Dunlap said.

The Bruins stayed true to their word, sweeping the Cougars in a dominant performance.

BYU looked thoroughly outplayed in all areas, from passing, to serving, to blocking.

After the game, UCLA honored Scates with a video tribute and a retired No. 50 jersey, which, coincidentally, was the number he played with in college.

Scates’ former players and assistant coaches, along with his current team, then posed for a picture with Scates alongside a banner marking his 19 NCAA championships.

“Coach Scates is volleyball, in a sense,” Caldwell said.

“It was his last game. We wanted do what we could to send him off on the right note. I think we did just that.”