The biggest uncertainty for the UCLA men’s volleyball team
going into last night’s NCAA semifinal against Penn State was
which setter would step up for the Bruins.
As soon as freshman Gaby Acevedo provided a perfect set to
senior Brennan Prahler for the match’s first point, all
questions were answered.
After two weeks of competing with Aaron Dodd for the starting
spot, Acevedo set the team to a 3-0 victory over the Nittany Lions.
Playing all but two points of the match, Acevedo sustained a
powerful Bruin offensive attack from start to finish.
“Acevedo played great,” senior Allan Vince said.
“He played with a great knowledge of who was hitting well,
always getting the ball to the hot hitter. He definitely showed
that he can play.”
Before the match, it was far from obvious that Acevedo would
fill the vacancy left when Dennis Gonzalez, who had been the
team’s starting setter for two months, suffered a finger
injury two weeks ago.
On Wednesday, only one day before the match, UCLA coach Al
Scates commented that either Acevedo or Dodd could start against
Penn State.
It was only after that day’s practice that Acevedo
solidified his spot as the starting setter.
For Acevedo, the pressure of the upcoming match began as soon as
he was named the starting setter.
“I didn’t sleep at all for 48 hours before the
match,” Acevedo said. “I had so much anxiety and just
wanted to get the match started. I was much more nervous before the
match than I was when I was actually playing.”
In order to calm his nerves, Acevedo called several people he
knew from Colegio Marista, his high school in Puerto Rico,
including his old coach and former Penn State player Jose
Quiñonez.
“I talked to so many people from Puerto Rico in
preparation for the match,” Acevedo said.
“They all said that I should just trust my teammates and
not try to do too much. My old coach gave me encouragement and said
that he knew that I would do well.”
Taking the advice of his old coach and teammates, Acevedo
developed the mind-set that he just had to focus on one point at a
time.
“I forced myself to concentrate only on the game,”
Acevedo said. “I put the crowd and all the pressure of the
game out of my mind.”
“Once the game started, I blocked everything else out of
my mind. I got into the rhythm and knew the game was over as soon
as I started playing.”
Setting the Bruins to a .353 hitting percentage with 47 assists,
Acevedo played better than he has in months.
He executed the game plan perfectly, setting players all over
the court. Four Bruin players ended the match with more than eight
kills.
“Gaby did a great job of exploiting their hitters and
blockers. He was able to find the right hitter at the right time
and we capitalized,” senior Prahler said.
Although Acevedo stabilized the Bruins with his solid setting,
he takes little credit for his contribution.
“I didn’t do anything,” Acevedo said.
“The rest of the team did everything important.”