Wednesday, February 24, 1999
Bruins look to grub on Anteaters
VOLLEYBALL: Irvine not prime concern for team preparing for No.
1 BYU
By Pauline Vu
Daily Bruin Contributor
When asked what he thought the key weaknesses of the UCLA men’s
volleyball team were, UC Irvine assistant coach Travis Turner
declined to comment.
"I don’t want to say anything to fire up the Bruins," he
said.
But Turner needs not worry.
"UCI?" asked UCLA coach Al Scates. "I haven’t thought about
them."
With a pair of games this weekend against No. 1 BYU whose
outcome could determine the Mountain Division champions, No. 2 UCLA
(10-2 overall, 9-1 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) has bigger
fish to fry.
That is not to say Scates expects the Anteaters to just roll
over.
"They’re one of those teams we should beat, but if we let down
they can be trouble," Scates said.
"UCI is up and down. We know they can put together a tough
match," he added.
The Anteaters (5-6, 3-5) gave the Bruins a challenge three weeks
ago when they opened the match by jumping to an 11-2 lead and
winning game one, 13-15. They eventually dropped the match,
though.
UCI also showed flashes of brilliance in their game last week
against No. 15 UC Santa Barbara, when they shut out the Gauchos in
the first game, 15-0, before falling in the next three games.
"We just played really well in game one. Our serving was good
then," Turner said of the UCSB match. The Anteaters eventually
served six aces compared to the Gauchos’ three.
UCI currently averages 1.5 aces a game while holding opponents
to one.
The Bruins will have to hold down UCI’s top two men, outside
hitters Daonnie Rafter and Mike Rupp, who lead the team with 243
and 162 kills. They also lead in digs with 101 and 85,
respectively.
But these numbers still don’t worry Scates.
"We’ll focus on the two outside hitters who carry the load, but
only one hitter is in the front at a time. We’ll know where they’re
going," Scates said.
The Anteaters’ biggest weakness will be down the middle, where
both middle blockers, junior Josh Richardson and true freshman Eric
Helenihi, are new starters.
"We have no experience in the middle, so it hurts. Our blocking
hasn’t come around yet," Turner said.
Although he doesn’t think UCLA has any weaknesses, Turner was
quick to point out which players and positions are the Bruins’
strengths: everybody and everywhere.
"With UCLA you usually have to worry about everybody. We know we
have to stop (quick hitter) Adam Naeve, but we haven’t been able to
do it for two years now," Turner said.
Naeve is currently suffering from a viral infection, but Scates
said it isn’t likely to stop him from playing tonight.
Turner, however, does not expect miracles.
"UCLA’s a good team – we’ll just show up and give it our all. We
hope to compete like the last time we played them," he said.
If the Bruins win, their record against the Anteaters will
increase to 37-0, making UCI just one of four MPSF teams never to
have beaten the Bruins.
Although UCLA expects to easily win vs. the Anteaters, the game
has more significance than just the opponent itself.
"We have to keep building our momentum for when we play against
BYU. And we have to keep winning, or we’ll wind up playing at BYU
or Pepperdine in the MPSF finals matches," Scates said.
And at those schools, Scates added, fan support is great enough
to turn into a slight disadvantage for the Bruins.
"I’d rather play here at Pauley Pavilion," Scates said.BEN
SCHWARTZ
Adam Naeve jump serves during a game against USC earlier this
season.
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