The young UCLA women’s volleyball team seemed nearly
unstoppable only two weeks ago.
Vastly improving with each day of practice, the Bruins had
jumped out to a 7-1 record.
Then three key players suffered injuries in the same weekend,
contributing to the three-game losing streak the team currently
finds itself in.
Sophomore Meghan Schoen is out for the season with a torn
anterior cruciate ligament in her right knee that she suffered in
the Bruins’ Sept. 17 match against Villanova.
Junior captain Colby Lyman endured a tibial bone contusion in
the Valparaiso match on Sept. 16.
And to top it off, freshman Kaitlin Sather suffered a mild
dislocation of her right kneecap during warm-ups for UCLA’s
Sept. 18 match at Wisconsin. As a result, she has some mild
ligament damage surrounding the kneecap.
With their injury-depleted roster thrown into competition, the
Bruins were swept in their matches against Wisconsin, Cal, and
Stanford.
“We had a very different team out there on the court last
weekend than we would have if we had been healthy,” UCLA
coach Andy Banachowski said. “I don’t know if that
would have changed the outcome, but we certainly would have had
more experience out there if Colby and Meghan and Kaitlin had been
playing.”
Without Sather, who leads the team in kills and aces, or Lyman,
who is second on the team in digs per game, the Bruins have been
unable to mount a serious challenge against teams that would be
difficult to beat even with a healthy lineup.
“Losing three players in such a short amount of time
shocked us because everyone thought that they could be the next
player to get injured,” redshirt sophomore Rachell Johnson
said. “It definitely made things more chaotic on the court
because the normal playmakers weren’t playing.”
Although Schoen won’t be back for the rest of this season,
Lyman and Sather should return to the UCLA lineup within the next
few matches.
It is doubtful that Lyman will be able to play against USC on
Friday, but the Bruins are hopeful that Sather will be fully
recovered in time to make an impact against the Trojans.
FRESHMEN STEP UP: While the loss of three players to injury took
its toll on the Bruins last weekend, the open starting spots
allowed several freshman to step up with big contributions.
The most notable was Kelsey Hall, who led UCLA with 12 digs
against Cal in her first start for the team. She followed up her
performance the next night by leading the team with 10 kills
against Stanford.
“Kelsey did an outstanding job of stepping into a starting
role,” Banachowski said. “She gained a lot of
confidence and experience in the matches.”
Other freshmen who took advantage of the newfound playing time
were Elise Carstensen and Blair Socci. Carstensen notched 10 of her
12 kills for the season while Socci added nine digs for the
weekend.
“It was a little difficult with different players on the
court, but we showed that the freshmen can definitely step up when
needed,”freshman setter Nellie Spicer said. “The
experience some of the players got gives us some more depth
now.”
RECORD LOSS: UCLA’s loss on Friday marked the first time
Cal has ever beaten the Bruins. UCLA previously held a 47-0 record
against the Bears.
“Losing to Cal was pretty difficult on the team because
the streak was broken,” Johnson said. “There were some
tears after the game and we were all disappointed. We didn’t
want to be the first team ever to lose to Cal.”
Even though the Bruins’ dominating win-streak over Cal
came to an end, the team is drawing from potential silver
linings.
“It wasn’t a total lost weekend because we got a
little bit of confidence going for us with the experience gained
despite the fact that we were shorthanded,” Banachowski said.
“It was disappointing to see the streak go after so long, but
I knew it would eventually be broken.”