Resurgent UCLA Climbs High

Negative thoughts accompanied Chris Pena on his trip to Chile and Peru last summer.

He recalls feeling drained and exhausted at a base camp near a dormant volcano, more than 17,000 feet above sea level, when disappointment enveloped him and spawned one emotion: anger.

It wasn’t that he couldn’t complete the final, nearly 3,000-foot climb to the summit, although that brought about its own feeling of failure.

His thoughts related to UCLA’s 2003 men’s volleyball season -- the one that went into the record books as the worst in school history.

“I just couldn’t shake it,” said Pena, the Bruins’ senior middle blocker and emotional leader. “I’m lying there. I couldn’t breathe because of the altitude. I felt like I was dying there, and I’m thinking, ‘I’m wasting time here. I need to start training.’ ”

A 15-14 record might not be embarrassing to most, but it’s different at UCLA. Bruin volleyball is held to a higher standard, one established by the likes of Karch Kiraly and Sinjin Smith, who starred on UCLA teams that have won an NCAA-record 18 national championships.

The worst Bruin teams, in 1991 and ‘92, had records of 16-9 and 17-7 -- and still rallied in the postseason to come within one victory of reaching the NCAA semifinals.

No Bruin team had ever missed the postseason. Until last year.

Al Scates, winner of more NCAA titles than any coach in any sport, was steamed. And he wasn’t alone.

“The guys were mad,” Scates said. “I was upset. I just didn’t think we worked hard enough. I expect guys to work hard, and I don’t think I monitored them enough. I must have let them slide.”

Pride kicked in as the anger faded. A group of returning seniors showed new resolve with their efforts in the weight room and on the court. They were out to make amends. And they have.

UCLA takes a 24-5 record into its match tonight, a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation semifinal against Long Beach State at Brigham Young’s Smith Fieldhouse in Provo, Utah.

The third-seeded Bruins have their best record since 2000, their last national championship season. They finished third in the MPSF during the regular season, highlighted by a victory over top-ranked BYU on April 9 that stopped the Cougars’ 21-match winning streak.

“For myself and three other guys that have been here five years, this season has been a lot of fun,” senior outside hitter J.T. Wenger said. “There’s a little motivation when you don’t make the playoffs the previous year. We had to rededicate ourselves.”

The work began in the weight room, often at 5:30 a.m. Strength coach Phil Wagner initiated a new strength and conditioning program that has continued three times a week throughout the season.

The addition of highly regarded freshman Steve Klosterman has helped solidify the opposite hitting position on the right side, a spot teammates and opponents identified as a deficiency a year ago. Sophomore Dennis Gonzalez has emerged as the primary setter, beating out sophomore transfer Beau Peters midway through the season.

The Bruins may still lack star power -- Adam Shrader, a senior libero, was the team’s only first-team all-conference selection -- but they have a solid unit fortified by players such as Wenger, Paul Johnson and Kris Kraushaar, all of whom were used sporadically last season.

Scates said the group reminds him of his 1972 team that squeaked into the NCAA tournament and rallied from a two-game deficit to defeat San Diego State for the title.

“I’ve had a lot of teams that were more gifted than this group,” Scates said. “These guys scramble, they go for it on every serve. They win a lot of matches and sometimes you don’t know how when you look at the box score.”

But Pena, who came up short on his volcano ascent, said he doesn’t think that the Bruins will experience feelings of accomplishment until they take their place at the top of college volleyball again.

“It’s not over,” he said.