If UCLA women’s volleyball has any chance at avenging its
NCAA quarterfinal loss from a year ago against two-time defending
champion USC on Saturday, it cannot serve as poorly as it did last
weekend against Stanford. The Bruins, who have lost seven
consecutive matches to their crosstown rivals, made 11 service
errors in their loss to the Cardinal, many of them coming in the
most critical moments of the match. Not only did the errors give
Stanford points, but they prevented the Bruins from going on the
offensive and allowed Cardinal senior Ogonna Nnamani to roam free
in the front row. “Serving is the only part of the game you
can really control, so there’s no excuse for missing,”
senior Brynn Murphy said. “You’re giving away free
points and not getting the chance to attack.” Poor serving
helped Nnamani to run off a career high 36 kills on 65 attempts,
and in turn UCLA has emphasized serving and defense in practice
this week. That should be particularly important going into a
hostile environment at USC’s Lyon Center, perhaps the
smallest and most raucous gym in the conference. It is unlikely
that one USC player will single-handedly overwhelm the Bruins
(11-4, 4-2 Pac-10) simply because the Trojans (9-3, 4-2) have a
more powerful and balanced team than Stanford. “USC
definitely has more options. Stanford basically just set Ogonna
every time,” Murphy said. “But we just need to focus on
our game and keep putting up the block.” UCLA played the
Trojans tough in its NCAA Regional Final matchup, eventually losing
3-1.
AWARDS CEREMONY: Nnamani was named Pac-10
player of the week for her performance against UCLA and USC,
recording 60 kills over the weekend. It was the fourth time Nnamani
has won the award. With 1,955 kills, Nnamani moved ahead of former
teammate on both Stanford and the Athens U.S. Olympic Volleyball
team, Logan Tom. Nnamani also has a chance to surpass former Bruin
Kristee Porter for the Pac-10 record in career kills.
QUICK SETS: For the first time since 2001, both
the Trojans and the Bruins are going into their match coming off a
loss. After a 35-0 season en route to its second straight
championship, USC has three losses already this year. …
Saturday’s match will be the first contest between USC and
UCLA to count toward the Lexus Gauntlet standings.