This past weekend presented the fifth-ranked UCLA women’s
volleyball team with an opportunity to build confidence against two
Arizona teams at home before a road trip to the Bay Area. And, of
course, the Bruins delivered.
Friday night, Arizona State (11-12, 3-9) visited Pauley Pavilion
in an attempt to knock UCLA down from the top of the Pac-10 ladder.
ASU got off to a good start, as UCLA struggled during warmups and
gave up early points to the opposition.
“We actually had one of the worst (warmups) we’ve
ever had,” senior outside hitter Katie Carter said. “I
think it was just a lack of focus. All day in practice and even in
warmups we were just kind of everywhere.”
Fortunately for the Bruins, they were able to recover that focus
soon afterward. Although they would lose the first game, 27-30,
they were able to battle back to close a gap that was at one time
as large as eight points. Before the start of the next game, some
personnel changes were made, such as bringing in senior libero
Laura Kroneberger.
“I’ve been looking for an opportunity to get Laura
out there,” UCLA coach Andy Banachowski said. “We were
a little flat; our passing wasn’t what we wanted it to be. I
thought she responded well, especially with her digging ““
even more than her passing, and her passing was good.”
Along with Kroneberger, Banachowski would bring in Jessica Fine
and Meghan Schoen to relieve some of his fatigued starting players.
From this point on, UCLA steamrolled through the rest of the match,
winning the next three games 30-15, 30-23 and 30-26 to steal the
victory.
Arizona (10-15, 1-12) did not put up the same fight that ASU did
the night before, and the Bruins also started the night off strong.
Led by Kaitlin Sather with 11 kills and five blocks, Nana
Meriwether with 12 kills and Nellie Spicer with 38 assists (Spicer
had racked up 60 against ASU the night before), they swept the
Wildcats in three games, 30-20, 30-17 and 30-27.
Next weekend is not only the last road trip of the regular
season for the Bruins, it also holds two tough matchups against No.
13 California and No. 2 Stanford. Stanford is currently on top of
the Pac-10 by half a game over Washington and UCLA. Additionally,
the Cardinal is one of only two teams that has defeated UCLA this
season, the other being Washington.
“Definitely these past two weeks have been really
hard,” senior Nana Meriwether said. “Colby (Lyman) got
sick, we’ve had midterms, but it’s finally over and we
can refocus. … We have really hard games; both Cal and Stanford
are highly ranked and they’re pretty good, so coming off this
weekend will help us out in practice and further on into the
weekend.”
The Bruins will close out the regular season with four home
matches in two weekends, including one against USC in Pauley on
Nov. 17, before the beginning of the NCAA Tournament.
The Pac-10 holds many talented teams this year, but UCLA will be
in position to control its own destiny and rise to the top this
weekend if it can defeat Stanford and Cal on their home courts.