MEN’S VOLLEYBALL PREVIEW vs. Saturday 8 p.m.
Malibu, Calif.
By Amanda Fletcher
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
The last time No. 4 UCLA played No. 3 Pepperdine, the Bruins
lost in five games at the Wyndham Gardens West Coast Challenge
hosted by UC Irvine on Jan. 12.
In that game, Pepperdine (5-1, 2-1 MPSF) not only handed UCLA
its second straight loss of the season, but outblocked them 21.5 to
9.5.
Armed with a new game plan and a better sense of their
opponent’s style of play, the Bruins (4-3, 0-1) will attempt
to even the score on Saturday at 8 p.m. at Firestone
Fieldhouse.
The biggest threat for the Bruins is senior outside hitter Scott
Wong, who was given All-MPSF second team honors while leading the
Waves in passing last year.
“Last time Scott Wong really started serving great. They
got a string of points behind his serve,” UCLA head coach Al
Scates said of the AVCA All-American who put away five aces against
UCLA in their last game. “He was their star and we’ll
have to hold him to his season averages.”
Another potential problem is
6-foot-8 sophomore middle blocker Brad Keenan, who recorded 11
block assists against UCLA in the Irvine tournament.
“He’s a big strong middle blocker,’ Scates
said. “He just seemed to know where the ball was going
“
To combat the big man in the middle, the Bruins plan on faking
inside and quickly pushing the ball to their outside and opposite
hitters.
“What we hope to do is misdirect him,” sophomore
setter Rich Nelson said. “If we’re able to do that,
we’ll be very successful.”
But the entire plan depends on UCLA’s passing, an area
they’ve been struggling in lately.
“I know we gotta definitely keep our passing
consistent,” junior opposite Ian Burnham said. “Once we
do that, our hitters are all around pretty good so we’ll be
able to put some away.”
On the upside, the Bruins used Wednesday’s exhibition
match win over Cal Baptist University, to improve their game in
anticipation of Friday’s tough MPSF matchup.
“I think we made some progress in our blocking and defense
last night (against Cal Baptist),” Scates said. “If we
get a good pass we’ll be able to move the ball around
(against Pepperdine). We won’t depend on one player,
we’ll dish off to everybody.”