UCLA bounces back with NCAA men’s volleyball win over Penn State
Penn State’s John Kerr hits against the UCLA triple block, from left, of Alex Knight, Sean McQuiggan and Ido David/Scott Clause photo
AUSTIN, Texas — First and foremost, UCLA coach John Speraw was happy to get a win after the No. 1 and defending national-champion Bruins were upset Friday by No. 4 Ohio State in the First Point Collegiate Challenge.
But, as champions often do, the Bruins pulled themselves off the mat and dispatched No. 7 Penn State 25-20, 25-19, 25-15 Saturday. UCLA led the entire first set, led the second set after seizing the lead at 5-4 and the remainder of the third set after pulling ahead 7-6.
The volleyball coach in Speraw was pleased with the way his team bounced back after losing in a reverse sweep the day before.
“When you return a lot of players, the presumption is that the cake is already baked,” Speraw said. “And I can tell you, this cake is not close to being baked. … You’ve got to work at it. It doesn’t just happen.
“I’m happy with the way we came through this weekend, and I think we learned a lot. I think we know we can get significantly better.”
Having said that, Speraw said this group has more depth than any team he has coached. That was on full display as several lesser-used players contributed to the win. Sophomore outside hitter Zach Rama came off the bench to produce six kills with no errors in eight attacks to go with a solo block. Sophomore middle blocker Sean McQuiggan — all 6-foot-11 of him — started and had four kills on four errorless seven swings and had three blocks and two digs.
Junior opposite Grant Sloane, junior libero Hideharu Nakamura, freshman outside Luca Curci and redshirt senior setter David Flores also showed up on the stat sheet.
Of course some of the usual suspects played a big role. Senior outside Alex Knight, the MVP of the NCAA Championship last May who played sparingly against Ohio State, led with nine kills, hitting .471, and had an assist, three blocks and three digs. Texan Merrick McHenry, a rsenior middle, was perfect on five swings and had an ace and two blocks. Junior opposite Ido David had six kills, a match-high three aces, two assists, two blocks and a dig. Setter Andrew Rowan had a kill in two errorless tries, 23 assists, two blocks and four digs. His team hit .354 and had five aces and 15 errors, half the serving mistakes as the day before.
Penn State coach Mark Pavlik knew coming into the season that there might be some struggles as his lineup got used to playing without graduated standouts Cal Fisher, Brett Wildman and Cole Bogner.
That was evident again against UCLA. Penn State hit only .171 (compared to .354 for the Bruins) and had zero aces against 20 errors The starters groped unsuccessfully for some rhythm.
Senior outside hitter Will Kuhns, like Pavlik a native of suburban Pittsburgh, came off the bench to provide a bit of a spark, going perfect on his first five swings before finishing with a personal-best nine kills on .400 hitting.
Senior John Kerr and senior Toby Ezeonu had five kills each. Ezeonu had one error in eight attacks, three blocks and two digs.
“I think what we learned this weekend is we’ve got to be physical,” Pavlik said. “We can’t play safe volleyball to compete at this level. … These guys want to be safe because in their careers, the guys who have been on the court — maybe with the exception of Toby and Owen (redshirt sophomore middle blocker Owen Rose) — everybody else who has been on the court is saying, ‘As long as I don’t screw up, Fish, Cole or Brett, we’re going to be fine.’
“They ain’t there. You can’t just be safe anymore. You’ve got to score points. … You’ve got to be physical with your serves. You’ve got to be physical with your attacking. … The guys on the court will make that happen, who those guys will be, I have yet to know.”
Ezeonu agreed.
“We learned that we have a lot of stuff to work on,” he said. “It’s only January. We have a lot of time. I think this tournament is a great way to gauge our skill, to gauge our performance and see what we need to work on.
“It’s just a process.”
First Point chairman Speraw was glad he brought his team to the third year of the event. UCLA’s match was the last of six over two days.
“I am blown away. To think about where we were six years ago, talking about how to grow boys volleyball and men’s volleyball. I was in the middle of the match, and I looked around and I’m seeing the (First Point) logo on people’s T-shirts and here we are with thousands of kids watching now,” Speraw said.
“Seeing the growth of the sport and knowing we’ve had some impact on that. … Obviously, the work that Glen and Kathy Lietzke (of Austin Junior Volleyball) have done and (tournament director Mitch Casteel), and to just be here and do this, have the vision to put this together. And for this to be this level of quality is unbelievable. … We have the NCAA court, the USAV floor, branding everywhere, sponsorship, television, digital boards, a DJ, first class accommodations. Complete and total communication. This was a first-class event.
“For me, as someone who has been around First Point from the start, I’m proud of that. I’m thrilled. … I think everybody should be proud of what this has become.”
UCLA’s Alex Knight attacks against Penn State’s Toby Ezeonu, left, and Will Kuhns/Scott Clouse photo
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