Forget the Year of the Tiger.

When it comes to Mountain Pacific Sports Federation men's volleyball, this is the Year of the Parity.

Three weeks in and there are no undefeated teams left.

“;Yes, it's going to be a dogfight the rest of the season,”; UCLA coach Al Scates said. “;You know how it's going to be when the defending national champion is in 11th place.

“;Parity has been attained. We say it every year, but it's more so this year.”;

Scates' fourth-ranked Bruins may be tied for eighth in the 12-team conference, but it's not a concern. Consider that there's 2 1/2 games separating the top nine teams with CSUN taking over first place last night via a 30-26, 30-28, 9-30, 26-30, 15-10 victory over visiting USC.

It was the 11th five-set match out of 37 played so far this MPSF season.

Both UCLA and host Hawaii can pick up—or lose—some ground after their two matches at the Stan Sheriff Center. The host Warriors (6-3, 4-2 MPSF) ride a four-match win streak into tonight's contest with the Bruins (4-5, 3-3).

UCLA may hold a lopsided 52-19 lead in the series with Hawaii, but the teams have had epic battles over three decades.

“;I think it's a big rivalry, especially for the fans,”; said former UH setter Brian Beckwith, the current Warriors director of volleyball operations. “;UCLA is known for playing well in the island.

“;But as far as our team goes, they're just another good team, with a bunch of good players. Every night in the league is like a playoff match. Our guys are here to disprove last season and show how good they are this year.”;

First-year Hawaii coach Charlie Wade is looking forward to his inaugural battle with Scates.

“;It's such an honor to compete against him and his team. They have the most storied program in our sport,”; Wade said. “;We're thrilled we have them at home this season. One of the first things I did when I got the job was to call Al Scates and see if he wanted to come out for the Outrigger (Hotels Invitational) again. We want that rivalry and we're expecting two more great matches with them.”;

The Warriors have momentum following their two five-set victories over UC Irvine last week. The Bruins saw their three-match win streak snapped when they fell to Brigham Young on Saturday in five.

After battling some injuries in a 1-5 start, UCLA began to turn it around when it outlasted UC Santa Barbara in five. Scates said his team played their best two matches of the season in a sweep of Cal State Northridge and the first match against Brigham Young.

“;We couldn't hit our way out of a paper bag the second night against BYU,”; Scates said of the 31-29, 27-30, 28-30, 31-29, 15-11 loss to the Cougars. “;The best thing I like about our team is how we're able to score when serving. We have people who can serve aces or we can get blocks when our serving forces bad passes.

“;I haven't looked at any tape of Hawaii yet. I'm scouting us, looking at our tendencies.”;

One tendency of Hawaii's that Scates did notice was that the Warriors have won Set 1 more often than not (6-3).

“;Maybe we could just start off with the second game,”; Scates joked.

Note

Hawaii senior middle Steven Grgas should be cleared to play in 10 days. It was originally thought that his fractured right hand would sideline him for 6 to 8 weeks.