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An all-state player and two all-area players will be in the final recruiting class for Hall of Fame UCLA coach Al Scates.
Scates, who will retire following the upcoming season, announced Tuesday that high school seniors Jack Hughson, Steven O’Dell and John Zappia have signed National Letters of Intent to play the Bruins starting for the 2013 season.
“With the signing of these three players, I feel confident that our program is in good shape for the future,” Scates said in a statement Tuesday. “We’ve filled our immediate needs for future championship success.”
O’Dell, a 6-foot-5-inch setter from Rochester, N.Y., was the 2010 All-Greater Rochester Player of the Year. He also was selected to the all-state team and is a four-time all-state scholar-athlete.
O’Dell will the fourth member of his family to play college volleyball. Three of his four brothers played for Penn State — including Dan O’Dell who is now an assistant coach for the UCLA women’s volleyball team.
Zappia, a 6-foot-6-inch middle blocker and opposite from California, was selected to the First-Team All-Orange County and First-Team All-Trinity League as a junior in 2011.
Hughson, a 6-foot-6-inch setter and outside attacker from San Diego, was a 2011 All-CIF selection and earned San Diego Union Tribune All-Academic honors.
UCLA ended last season eighth in the MPSF and reached the conference tournament quarterfinals. The Bruins also finished in the top 10 of the national rankings.
Scates, the winningest coach in NCAA volleyball history, announced in May that he would retire in July 2012 following his 50th season as the Bruins head coach. Scates is the only coach UCLA men’s volleyball program history.