Tuesday, April 14, 1998
Anteaters search for Bruins’ Achilles’ heel in season finale
VOLLEYBALL: With injuries, victory over top-ranked UCLA looks
possible to an Irvine with nothing to lose
By Grace Wen
Daily Bruin Staff
The UCLA men’s volleyball team is in the driver’s seat for the
MPSF tournament. Coming off of a 3-1 win against Pepperdine, the
Bruins have one more road block they must cruise through to
conclude conference play.
Actually, it’s probably more of a speed bump.
The top-ranked Bruins (23-3 overall, 16-2 MPSF) will travel to
UC Irvine tonight to take on the Anteaters at 7 p.m. in Crawford
Hall.
UCLA owns a 20-0 series record against UCI (9-14, 5-13). Since
the last time the two teams met, Irvine has stumbled and won only
one match in its last eleven games.
The Anteaters have lost to Pepperdine, Loyola Marymount and Cal
State Northridge in the span of a week. Irvine failed to secure a
wild-card spot in the upcoming MPSF conference playoffs since it
lost to LMU in a must-win situation.
Despite the record, UCLA head coach Al Scates does not
anticipate a quick match.
"It will be their senior night, last match of the year, nothing
to lose," Scates said. "They shouldn’t feel any pressure. They
should come out swinging hard. Traditionally, they’ve given us some
tough matches over there. We’re not expecting an easy match."
Nonetheless, the Bruins should come away with another win. UCLA
will be using the match to improve its blocking and defense. The
Bruins may also showcase some new plays on offense.
However, the execution of the offense could be questionable.
Setter Brandon Taliaferro may have aggravated his jammed toe on
Friday when a Pepperdine blocker landed on it during the match.
Taliaferro practiced on Monday and was cleared to play for tonight
but he may not be 100 percent.
Outside hitter Fred Robins tweaked his knee while digging a ball
during Friday night’s match against Pepperdine. Scates decision to
redesign the defense rests upon Robins primary role in the back
row.
"I’m changing the defense a little bit to allow him to go where
he wants to," Scates said. "I’m letting him call the shots. I want
him at the point of action because he’s our best digger."
Thus, UC Irvine may not be the biggest challenge to UCLA
tonight, it might be the Bruins’ own starting lineup.
JAMIE SCANLON-JACOBS/Daily Bruin
Two UCLA players set up for a spike.