Friday, February 12, 1999
Squad set to improve record in weekend matches against SDSU,
UCSD
M.VOLLEYBALL: Bruins hope
to extend four-game win streak with help of returning
starters
By Pauline Vu
Daily Bruin Contributor
When the No. 4 UCLA men’s volleyball team goes south this
weekend to play San Diego State and UC San Diego, it figures the
Aztecs will at least be a challenge and the Tritons merely a wisp
of one.
The Bruins expect to improve their current record of 7-2
overall, 5-1 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF), by the end
of the two games in San Diego. Between the two of them, SDSU and
UCSD have only two wins.
But there is definitely a distinction between the schools: San
Diego State will be far tougher than UCSD.
Tonight the Bruins play San Diego State, which has an 0-4
overall record. But this figure is misleading as those losses came
against No. 9 USC, No. 6 Long Beach State, No. 2 BYU and highly
regarded UCI.
"(The Aztecs) may be at bottom, but we still have to play to
beat them. Their record just isn’t that great," UCLA assistant
coach Brian Rofer said.
They will be paced by returning starter and senior outside
hitter Tom Hunter, an all-conference selection last year.
Other likely starters include outside hitter and middle blocker
Brian Corso, setter John Engstrom, and outside hitters Hans
Stolfus, a transfer from Hawaii, and Nick Marbach, who spent last
summer with the Junior National Team.
Saturday, the Bruins face UCSD, currently under the helm of
first-year coach Jon Stevenson. The Tritons are 2-8 with their only
two wins over Stevens Tech and Princeton.
They are led by outside hitter Zack Hite, who has racked up 110
kills so far this season. He is also leading the team in hitting
errors, however, and has one of the lowest hitting percentages at
.078.
Middle blocker Devon Jeffcoat is second in kills with 91 and has
a far higher hitting percentage at .328, but the Tritons as a team
have an average of .126 and only 415 total kills to their
opponent’s total of 530.
Much of the reason why UCSD’s volleyball team is not playing
well is because of the program’s structure – or lack of one.
UCSD’s program has little money and no scholarships. They’ve
also had three different head coaches in the last five years.
"It’s hard to start a program when there’s no real continuity
there. Good players don’t want to go there," Rofer said. "They’re a
Division III program competing against Division I schools," he
added.
UCLA is currently on a four-game winning streak after defeating
USC on Wednesday in front of a crowd of 1,250.
BEN SCHWARTZ
Junior Brandon Taliaferro sets the ball to teammate Adam
Naeve.
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