Third-Ranked UCLA Travels to No.8 UC Santa Barbara

Third-Ranked UCLA Travels to No.8 UC Santa Barbara

April 16, 2004

The No.3-ranked UCLA men's volleyball team travels to No.8 UC Santa Barbara on Sat., Apr. 17 for the final regular season match for both teams.

Saturday's match at UCSB begins at 7:05 p.m. in Rob Gym.

The Bruins have clinched a quarterfinal home playoff match against Hawaii on Apr. 24 in Pauley Pavilion. The Warriors lost 3-1 at Pepperdine Thursday night and will end the season as the MPSF's sixth seeded team.

The Bruins (22-5, 16-5) split a two-match series with top-ranked BYU last week. They lost the first match, 3-1, but rebounded with a come-from-behind 3-2 victory last Friday.

On Apr. 14, the Bruins beat the Matadors for the third time this season. Junior Kris Kraushaar led UCLA with 11 kills and Paul Johnson and senior Marcin Jagoda each added eight kills. Johnson led the team with nine block assists and Kraushaar added seven total blocks.

UCLA defeated UCSB 3-1 on Feb. 18 as freshman Steve Klosterman slammed a career-high 24 kills (.425) and senior J.T. Wenger added 20 (.552).

"This is going to be a tough match and we are going to treat this as the first of five tough matches," said head Coach Al Scates, referring to the number of postseason matches between Saturday's contest and the NCAA finals in Hawaii.

On Apr. 9, the BYU built a two-games-to-none lead before the Bruins clawed back with the help of seniors Jagoda and Wenger. Jagoda led UCLA with 15 kills in the final three games, including seven in Game 3. Wenger added 12 kills, three aces and three total blocks. In Game 5 his consecutive aces ended the match.

"This (BYU) was a big victory for our team's confidence," said UCLA head coach Al Scates. "It gives us momentum and the home court advantage for the playoffs. "As the match wore on, we got stronger," he continued. "It's nice to see that our conditioning has paid off."

The Bruins improved their record in five-game matches to 4-1 with the victory against BYU.