Oregon women’s volleyball head coach Carl Ferreira must
smile wryly every time his squad takes the court clad in its
traditional emerald garb.
With three freshmen and two sophomores in their starting lineup,
the Ducks are just plain green.
That inexperience proved costly against No. 13 UCLA, as the
heavily favored Bruins overcame a series of miscues early in the
match to sweep past the Ducks in three straight games on Friday
night at Pauley Pavilion, 30-28, 30-26, 30-20.
The victory was UCLA’s 29th straight against Oregon
(10-10, 0-6), and it vaulted the Bruins (12-6, 5-3) past No. 16
Washington State and No. 22 Arizona State and into third place in
the Pac-10.
“I think the win has to give us some confidence,”
said Andy Banachowski, head coach of the Bruins. “We looked
good at times in the match, but what was disappointing for me was
that our play was not real consistent. We made far too many
errors.”
UCLA struggled to find its rhythm in game one, falling behind
23-21 before sophomore middle blocker Brynn Murphy recorded a kill
and a block to even the score.
Murphy had six of her team-high 11 kills in the first game, and
kept the team close until the Bruins could make a run.
“I was doing my best to hit the ball solidly,” said
Murphy, one of five Bruins averaging two or more kills per game.
“The setters were giving me great sets, and I was just
putting them away.”
After eking out victories in game one and two, UCLA rolled to a
routine victory in the third. Sophomore Krystal McFarland led the
way, tallying the first six points of the game on her serve.
“They were really having trouble handling Krystal’s
jump serve,” Banachowski said. “She did a great job of
putting pressure on them.”
The weekend sweep of the Oregon schools gives UCLA some momentum
heading into a three-game road trip that begins Friday evening
against No. 1 USC. The Trojans swept the season series with the
Bruins last year.
“Beating Oregon gives us more confidence against
USC,” Murphy said. “We need to be strong going into
that one. Our defense is going to be key.”