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Senior male volleyball
Lares bets the UCLA formula

Four of the six scheduled starters for the Patriots played the for Bruins this decade.
For Fernando Ribas Reyes / end.fribas @ elnuevodia.com

Editor's Note: Series... Continuing analysis of the male volleyball teams, with a view to the 2008 season, which begins on Friday.

A brief look at the Lares Patriots of 2008 is reminiscent of Lares matches that were played here in 1980: the Patriots against the Bruins of the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) in the Roberto Clemente Coliseum.

Four of the six players on the projected starting lineup of the 2008 Patriots played at UCLA Bruins in this decade. All played together outside at least one season (2004-05).

The list begins with the Puerto Rican setter Gaby Acevedo, who was a finalist with UCLA in 2005-06 NCAA Championships. Acevedo comes to Lares from Corozal, where he played last year to the seventh game of the Puerto Rican League semifinal series.

Lares Players for '08:
Abdiel Cardona
Jonathan King
Joshua Nunez
Gaby Acevedo
Luis Palacios
Dimar Lopez
Bolivar Bermudez
Jorge Gonzalez
Steve Klosterman
Damian Scott
Kris Kraushaar

Head Coach:
Ramon 'Monchito' Hernandez

The list goes on and closes with the three reinforcements of the team: the opposite Steve Klosterman, who was Most Valuable Player of the 2007 final series with the Naranjito Changos, and the corners Damian Scott and Kris Kraushaar, both new in the league.

That connection of 'Bruin' in Lares does not guarantee a championship as the many that have won at UCLA volleyball NCAA. But grouping them ensures a faster team bonding, to be led by the coaching debut of Ramon 'Monchito' Hernandez, who knows the game because of the Bruins won the final of the NCAA 1994, the Cougars playing for Penn State.

Besides docking, the three Bruins have health reinforcements, bringing reinforcements were not veterans of Lares 2008. Health was one of the major problems of Lares, which took action outside the Colombian Diego Escobar during much of the season, as well as the holder opener, Carlos Luis Lopez.

And the fact that Lares has three reinforcements helps ensure the postseason, as has happened to all the teams that previously played with three reinforcements, including those Changos, which have won with that amount of reinforcements.

Along with the Bruins, Lares has two good middles: Jonathan King and Joshua Nunez. King was the best blocker of the tournament exceeding 2007. And the bank has to Dimar Lopez, also acquired from Corozal and who can do the work offensive.

The National Liberation Gregory Berrios cover that position for Lares. Berrios returns to volleyball higher after helping the Paris Volley to win the championship of the 2007-08 Pro League in France.

The Patriots are nostalgic with UCLA and are going unnoticed in the 2008 preseason. Much care, that the formula 'Bruin' might work.