MIKE CHIEN Junior Matt Komer digs deep
for the ball during the Bruins’ match against the Team Canada
Masters Sunday.
By Daniel Miller
Daily Bruin Contributor
For the most part, the men’s volleyball team demonstrated
what everyone already knew as it won three of four games against
the Team Canada Masters on Sunday at the Wooden Center.
But there was one unexpected bright spot.
UCLA head coach Al Scates already had a good idea of what
the team’s starting lineup would be ““ and play by play
the starting seven reaffirmed the correctness of his choices.
Sophomore middle blocker Chris Peña, who has been praised by
Scates, continued his offensive tear, as he was named MVP and
posted a match-high of 13 kills along with eight block assists and
a hitting percentage of .524.
While all this was familiar territory, the match was different
in that it afforded several second-string players the opportunity
to play in the fourth game. They emerged with praise from
Scates.
“I thought they played well,” Scates
said. “It was the first time I’ve seen some of
them play, and I liked what I saw for the most part.”
Scates noted the play of freshman setter Jimmy Sepulveda, saying
that he was a “great leader.”
“We have a good group of young players that has been
together since last year, and we have good chemistry,”
Sepulveda said. “It was our first game playing together
officially. We need more game time to work out kinks.”
“They are a scrappy bunch, and they play with a lot of
emotion,” Peña added.
The Bruins won 30-21, 33-31, 30-24 before dropping the fourth
game 30-25.
Senior outside hitter Matt Komer had three service aces and 10
kills, with a hitting percentage of .533. He also had 10 block
assists.
The average age of the Team Canada Masters player is 30 ““
a fact that was made obvious in the team’s style of play.
“Team Canada Masters has had a lot of experience,”
Komer said. “We play a quicker style of play than them,
but they are good blockers.”
Team Canada Masters head coach George Tokarsky understood that
while his players were older and smarter, the Bruins were younger
and quicker.
“The Bruins are a typical young team. They don’t give
up,” he said.
However, Sepulveda was not completely content with his
team’s performance.
“We did our job, but how pleased can we be? We
didn’t win that final game,” he said.
With determination like that, one might conjecture that
Sepulveda will not simply be a leader in garbage time.