W. VBALL Friday, 7 p.m. vs. Stanford Pauley
Pavilion
All week long, the UCLA women’s volleyball team was
focused on blocking Cal’s strong hitters. The effort paid off
on Thursday. The No. 3 Bruins (20-0, 7-0 Pac-10) swept the No. 7
Bears (14-3, 3-3) 3-0 (30-26, 30-17, 32-30), extending their
winning streak to 20 matches to start the season. The Bruins’
strong blocking and defense limited the Bears to a measly .096
hitting percentage. “Our blockers really did a nice job of
shutting down their outside hitters,” coach Andy Banachowski
said. “Those players have been the focal point of their team,
and we were able to stop them with our blocks. We were able to dig
very well and do things that transitioned. “It was good to
see our defense in action tonight like it was.” The Bruins
more than doubled the Bears’ block total in the match,
garnering 14.5 blocks to Cal’s seven. And surprisingly, the
leading blocker for UCLA was not senior Nana Meriwether, although
she did assist on five blocks. Redshirt junior Rachell Johnson
delivered two solo blocks and assisted on six other blocks to lead
the Bruins. “We’ve really been working a lot on our
swing blocking technique,” Johnson said. “(Assistant
coach) Dan Conners really, really gets on us to remember to swing
block, and that’s helped our blocking
tremendously.”
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UCLA’s hitters weren’t too bad either. With the
experience and depth the Bruins have at the position, the team
often will get standout performances from different hitters on
different nights. On Thursday, sophomore Kaitlin Sather came up
especially big for the Bruins. In limited minutes, Sather delivered
eight kills without an error, hit .421, and delivered some key
kills down the stretch for the Bruins, who had to fight to come
back in the match’s third and final game. It was
Sather’s second consecutive strong performance.
“She’s been chomping at the bit to get back on the
court,” Banachowski said. “It’s good to see her
come through. It’s a great tribute to how hard she’s
been working at practice to get back out on the court.” The
Bruins were able to get pretty balanced offensive production
throughout the match. Sophomore setter Nellie Spicer, who
contributed 43 assists to the Bruin victory, did more than just set
up UCLA’s hitters. Spicer took it upon herself to provide
offense for the Bruins, garnering four big kills in Game 1. The
Bruins also got eight kills for the match from sophomore Ali Daley,
11 from Meriwether, and 12 from senior Katie Carter. With the
victory, the Bruins move to 48-1 all-time against Cal and win their
second straight match against the Bears since losing to them last
season. “This was huge, especially after the loss last
year,” Johnson said. “It’s always nice to beat
Cal, and it’s good to start off strong winning in three,
getting out of here quick so we can get rested.”
STANFORD TONIGHT: The Bruins’ work is far
from done this week. If UCLA wants to remain undefeated, it will
have to do something it has not done in six years: beat Stanford.
The Cardinal comes into Pauley Pavilion fresh from ending
USC’s record streak on Thursday night. In the first-ever
women’s volleyball match at USC’s new Galen Center,
Stanford (14-2, 5-1) swept the Trojans. “We just have to come
out as strong as we did (against Cal),” Bruin sophomore
defensive specialist Jade Machado said. “We just have to gear
up, stay fired up, and use the momentum from this game to carry
us.” “Stanford is also a really big outside hitting
team,” Johnson said. “We’re going to really have
to key in on (Stanford hitters) Kristin Richards and Cynthia
Barboza. They’re a pretty solid team, and we’re going
to have to dig really deep to defeat them.”