After 17 years of disappointment, UCLA men’s volleyball is back in what it considers its rightful place: on top.
The program that long ruled the sport was celebrating anew Saturday after notching its 20th NCAA championship and first since 2006. The top-seeded Bruins ended the longest title drought in their history with a 28-26, 31-33, 25-21, 25-21 victory over second-seeded Hawaii that was a study in redemption, steady play and perseverance.
Sophomore outside hitter Ido David, who was so sick with a viral infection that there were doubts earlier in the week about whether he could play, used the hands that had unleashed thunderous kills to wipe away tears in the handshake line inside EagleBank Arena in Fairfax, Va.
Coach John Speraw, who won his first title as a head coach with the Bruins after winning two as a player and three more as an assistant under the legendary Al Scates, fought off the feelings that he knows are inevitable after his team toppled the two-time defending champions.
“It’s worthy of some raw emotion,” Speraw, who had endured his share of near-misses with his alma mater, including a loss to Long Beach State in the 2018 championship, said by telephone. “It’s been an incredible journey, and I think everyone that’s happy for us isn’t just happy for this singular moment, I think they’re happy for the journey that we’ve been through and all the time and effort that’s been invested.”
Scates said via email that he watched the match from home and celebrated by texting with scores of former players. He had told former Bruins star Sinjin Smith on Friday during their weekly golf game that UCLA would add to its record title total, avenging a loss to Hawaii in March on the Rainbow Warriors’ home court in Honolulu.
(Julia Nikhinson / Honolulu Star-Advertiser via Associated Press)
It was an ensemble effort featuring the kills of David, high-flying acrobatics of Merrick McHenry, savvy serving of J.R. Norris IV, steady setting of freshman Andrew Rowan and all-around excellence of tournament most valuable player Alex Knight.
“It was just lots of good plays after good plays after good plays,” Speraw said. “There wasn’t one signature play that made the difference, I think it was just us continuing to play the game we played all season.”
The Bruins (31-2) took the first set after back-to-back kills from David accounted for the final two points. They appeared on the verge of a runaway after taking a 19-13 lead in the second set. But a serve into the net sparked a huge Hawaii comeback as part of an epic back-and-forth battle, the Rainbow Warriors (29-3) eventually prevailing on their eighth set point.
UCLA trailed 9-7 in the third set before winning comfortably, a McHenry ace breaking a 10-10 tie to help the Bruins pull away. The fourth set unfolded in similar fashion. A Norris ace gave UCLA a 9-8 advantage, the Bruins leading all the way until the final point.
UCLA’s celebratory dog pile was interrupted when Hawaii challenged the last point. But officials ruled that Ethan Champlin’s kill stood and the revelry resumed, streamers falling from the rafters.
Heroes were aplenty. David finished with 23 kills, Rowan logged 60 assists and Norris had five aces alongside Knight’s across-the-board contributions of 15 kills, six digs, three blocks and two aces.
UCLA was the volleyball power that rose from nothing in the 1960s, Scates once stirring interest in the sport by nailing posters to telephone poles in beach towns throughout Southern California to promote a tripleheader inside Pauley Pavilion.
Scates went on to win a record 19 NCAA titles, nearly doubling the total of John Wooden’s basketball teams. Nobody was more acutely aware of that history than Speraw, who guided UC Irvine to three national championships before replacing Scates in 2013.
What followed was a decade of frustration. There were two losses in the semifinals in addition to that gutting championship setback against Long Beach State, when UCLA wasted a two-sets-to-one lead inside Pauley Pavilion.
The breakthrough came Saturday.
“Mostly I’m just happy for everyone involved with the program,” Speraw said, “from all the alumni who wanted it so bad and have been so supportive, just never heard anything but love and support. I’m also really, really grateful for Al Scates and what he’s done for me and the foundation he laid with this program and the expectation that we’re going to go win some championships to now going out and having done it, I’m just really proud.”