Bruins turn back Warriors in 3 sets

In tribute to its head coach’s final volleyball match in Hawaii, UCLA threw a block party.

The top-ranked Bruins amassed a 17-2 advantage in blocks in a 25-21, 25-14, 25-19 rout of Hawaii on Saturday night in the Stan Sheriff Center.

"It’s sad to leave this place," said Al Scates, who will retire after his 50th season as UCLA’s head coach. "There are some amazing memories here."

Scates’ night to remember was the Warriors’ nightmare to forget. The Warriors could not overcome the Bruins’ multiple offense or scale an active block.

"They’re a little further ahead of us right now," said UH head coach Charlie Wade, whose Warriors fell to 6-9 overall and 3-7 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. "They’re experienced, and they’re big and athletic and well-coached. All of the above."

The Bruins, who improved to 14-2 and 9-1, have won all nine sets in the three matches between the teams this season.

Although the Bruins dominated Friday’s match, Scates was not pleased with the blocking. Friday night and Saturday morning, the Bruins watched videos of the Warriors’ attack.

Twice.

"That’s unusual," UCLA middle blocker Weston Dunlap said. "We usually watch it once."

Some MPSF schools are going high tech, using digital-video programs to produce cut-ups of plays.

"My scouting report looks old school," said Scates, holding up sheets of color-coded scribblings. "It’s the same way I’ve been doing it for 50 years. By hand. It takes longer."

Scates said he used the notes and videos to craft a defensive strategy.

"We made some adjustments," said UCLA middle blocker Thomas Amberg, who contributed to eight blocks. "The videos showed a lot of their tendencies. Luckily, they didn’t change too much after (Friday’s) match. We were able to change enough to stop them. That’s why we played so well."

Scates said renovation of the block began last month in preparation for the UH-hosted Outrigger Invitational. Scates flip-flopped the rotation, with Nick Vogel moving from the middle to opposite attacker, and 6-foot-9 Kyle Caldwell moving from opposite to setter.

"I switched Vogel just for the blocking," Scates said.

With Vogel and Caldwell each taking three front-right rotations, Scates said, "we can challenge the big left-side hitters in the league, where before we couldn’t stop them. Now we can. We’ve gone from an average team to a pretty good team."

Vogel had six blocks, and Caldwell had two rejections.