On Tuesday, the No. 5 UCLA men’s volleyball team earned a hard-fought five-set victory over Cal State Northridge, but the Bruins will have to put any rest on hold.
The team travels to Hawaii today to play what will be its last three non-conference games – the Bruins’ last chance to prepare and improve as a team before the full-fledged conference schedule finally begins.
UCLA will compete in the Outrigger Hotels Invitational with matches today, Friday and Saturday against No. 7 Penn State (0-0), No. 10 Ohio State (1-0) and Hawai’i (0-2), respectively.
On the positive side, the trip to Hawaii is a prime opportunity for the team to test itself against stiff competition. Furthermore, it’s a chance to try to sort out any technical problems before continuing the conference schedule next week.
On the other hand, the Bruins have already played four five-set matches within the last week. Three games in three days isn’t exactly an ideal rest, and coach John Speraw is prepared to adjust accordingly.
“I’m not exactly sure who I’m going to play because we need to get guys rested,” Speraw said. “The most important thing is that we have to come back next Tuesday and play well versus Long Beach (State), while continuing to improve (in the tournament).”
This will be the third year in a row that the Bruins take part in the Outrigger Hotels Invitational, and each of the past two tournaments has served as a useful tuneup for the regular season.
“I think it’s a great tournament, there are always some really good games over there to sort of prepare ourselves for the league, so yeah, it’s going to be a really good time,” said junior outside hitter Gonzalo Quiroga.
While two of the three opponents the Bruins will be facing are ranked in the top 10, there isn’t a strong sense of familiarity toward either of them. It probably goes both ways, however, as the Bruins themselves are sporting a new look – the team graduated seven seniors last year.
“I don’t know much about either of those schools right now,” Speraw said. “They both have relatively new teams and we do, too.”
Recent history certainly hints that the Bruins will enjoy their trip. The team is 6-0 the last two years at the tournament, and it has only lost three sets in those six matches combined.
“It’s definitely nice to take a little break from L.A., pack our bags and get on a flight,” said redshirt junior outside hitter Dane Worley. “It’s always good to get some different scenery.”
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