Bruin Puts Team at Top of His Priorities : Volleyball: Back problems sidelined Mike Sealy for a year, and his starting position went to a teammate. But he says the championship is all that really matters.

Freshman Mike Sealy, the former Santa Monica High School volleyball setter, is fighting to regain his starting position on the defending national champion UCLA team. But he says that helping the Bruins win another NCAA title is more important than starting.

Sealy has been in a battle with another freshman, Albert Hanneman, to regain his place in the lineup.

Sealy, who was named the Ocean League’s most valuable player one year, was twice selected to All-CIF Southern Section teams. That kind of prominence naturally drew the attention of UCLA Coach Al Scates, long revered as the nation’s best college volleyball coach.

Scates recruited him, and he has been starting as a freshman for most of this season. Recently, however, he gave way to Hanneman of North Torrance High.

Back problems caused by weak muscles forced Sealy to forgo playing volleyball his senior year in high school, and he thinks that the long layoff may have had something to do with being relegated to a reserve’s role.

“People have told me that late in the year your legs start feeling really rubbery,” he said, adding that they were right. “I’m sure it has something to do with being out of shape from not playing last year.”

The 6-foot, 6 1/2-inch, 180-pound Sealy is still seeing plenty of action. He said that Hanneman has been starting the first two games of a match and that he has been replacing Hanneman beginning with the third game. In college volleyball, the team that first wins three games is declared the winner of a match.

Sealy is not distressed that he has lost his starting job. In fact, he said, the competition between him and Hanneman may be better for the team.

“It pushes us both and makes us both better players. The only thing that really matters is if we win or not.”

It has seldom been “or not” for Scates and his Bruins, who have won 13 NCAA championships since 1970. This year top-ranked UCLA (18-2 overall as the week began) is considered a good bet to repeat as national champion.

One of the reasons the Bruins win so often is that Scates recruits the nation’s best players, who intensely compete against each other for starting positions.

Even UCLA All-American middle blocker Trevor Schirman, a senior who has won many honors, does not consider himself exempt from such competition. Earlier, he said he has to fight to keep his job on the team.

“You can play miraculous matches,” Schirman said, “but at the end of the season you could be out of there because some guy is playing better than you and has worked harder.”

Scates said that practices lately have been “so competitive you can’t tell who the starters are going to be for the next match.” He added that he used 11 different starting combinations during five recent matches.

He said Sealy and the 6-3 Hanneman have been neck-and-neck in practice lately, and “both keep getting better. From a motivational standpoint, that’s tremendous, because it’s also happening at other positions.”

Each brings different attributes to the setter position, Scates said.

“Hanneman was a swing hitter in high school, so he is a good offensive threat. He is also quick to the ball and a good, aggressive leader.

“Sealy, at 6-6, is a better blocker, is technically very sound and makes the right choices on offense.”

Sealy may have “great technical skills,” he said, “but he came into the program without being able to exercise or jump for six months. He couldn’t spike or block because he was physically so far behind the rest of the guys.”

Scates said that as Sealy’s quickness and strength began to wane, he began replacing him with Hanneman during the latter stages of matches and then gave the starting job to Hanneman. He said he has had to be careful to ask Sealy to perform the “right amount of exercise, because an overload could hurt him.”

“When he stops growing and as he gets stronger, he’s going to increase his quickness. And his blocking and hitting are going to get better. He’s going to be a great talent.”

Sealy said that he has been trying to get in better shape by spending more time in the weight training room, doing leg presses and squats to strengthen his legs. He said a week off from volleyball for winter quarter final examinations at the end of March was a welcome respite for him.

He expects to be ready for the Western Intercollegiate Volleyball Assn. playoffs, which start April 25 at Cal State Northridge. UCLA has already earned a spot in the playoffs, a prelude to the NCAA championships, by virtue of having clinched first place in the WIVA’s DeGroot Division.

Sealy also expects the Bruins to be ready to defend their NCAA championship against a flock of tough challengers. The strongest teams in the WIVA playoffs besides UCLA probably will include USC, Stanford, Cal State Long Beach and Hawaii.

“We’re going to do it,” Sealy said. “A lot of other teams have peaked early and have played as well as they can. We haven’t peaked yet; we’re still rising toward our best performance.”