The 4th-ranked UCLA Bruins have a 1-3 record in their last 4 games: triple the number of losses that they had in their first 10 games of the season. That skid has been due in no-small-part to the absence of their top scorer, outside hitter Jake Arnitz, who has been sidelined with an injury for all 4 of those games. According to a UCLA spokesperson, Arnitz is sidelined with a “lower body injury” and is currently “day to day.” No definitive timeline for his return is available.
The junior leads the team in kills/set (3.35) and his hitting an efficient .355 on the season. He also is contributing nearly a dig and half-a-block in each set for the Bruins.
If he doesn’t return soon, it could leave a lot of pressure on UCLA for the MPSF tournament in April. Last year, both of the NCAA tournament at-large bids went to the MPSF, the conference that UCLA is in. Those two teams were the 2nd-seeded Bruins, who were 25-6 after losing the MPSF title game to BYU, and 5th-seeded Long Beach State, who lost to UCLA in the semi-finals to finish their regular season at 24-7.
Even if the Bruins were to win-out their schedule, and then lose in the championship game of the MPSF tournament, that would put them with 5 losses headed toward the tournament selections, which would probably be enough. While the committee would likely take Arnitz’s injury into consideration in its choices for the two at-large bids, that doesn’t give them much room for error – including a game next week against current conference leaders LBSU and two to end the season against Hawaii.
UCLA resumes their schedule against CSUN on Wednesday and then on Saturday against the 2nd-ranked 49’ers of Long Beach State.
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