The match may not have counted toward the Bruins’ run for
the Pac-10 title, but they sure did put up quite a fight against
Pepperdine on Monday night.
The No. 4 Bruins were pushed to the limit by the No. 24 Waves in
a five-game melee, eventually holding Pepperdine out 30-25, 26-30,
26-30, 30-24, 15-5 in front of a crowd of 677.
Though the Bruins won the first set, it was apparent that their
passing had waned near the end of the first game. And by the
second, their serve receive had noticeably begun to affect their
ability to run their offense effectively. In the second and third
sets, the Bruins hit for a meager .119 and .108 respectively,
compared to their better first-game outing of .357.
“They served extremely well tonight,” coach Andy
Banachowski said. “We got a little rattled by their serving
and it took us out of our offense.”
Pepperdine, meanwhile, rode the arms of its West Coast
Conference Player of the Week Sophia Milo and Rachel Lumsden. In
the middle, Milo was virtually unstoppable with her step-out
maneuver, as the Bruin blockers were unable to get up in time. She
added 16 kills, nearly all of which came through the slide.
“I feel like our blocking on the left side just needs to
develop more,” middle blocker Nana Meriwether said. “We
have a lot of trouble defending that.”
From the outside, Lumsden led all players with 19 kills on the
night. Pepperdine rode the wave of its two power hitters in Lumsden
and Milo, keeping the momentum in its favor throughout the second
and third games.
But UCLA, unwilling to let this nonconference match slip away,
rallied together to tame the Waves. Unlike in the previous two
sets, the Bruins made sure to not let Pepperdine come from behind
and steal the game.
“It was (an uphill battle in the fourth and fifth games),
but we all came together during halftime and on the
sideline,” said Meriwether, who added 18 kills and 11 blocks
on the night. “We just woke each other up and worked
together.”
In the fourth game, the Bruins amassed 6.5 blocks to
Pepperdine’s two, and hit for a more efficient .282 as a
team.
“We were put in a situation where it was all
mental,” said outside hitter Katie Carter, who added 15 kills
and six blocks. “We had to be confident in ourselves; we had
to not even think that they could win.”
“That’s what we’re going to run into the
tournament coming up. So this is really good practice for us to
have that feeling and get ourselves out of it.”
Though this win did not have any Pac-10 Conference implications,
UCLA will gladly take this win all the same.
“It’s a great momentum starter,” Meriwether
said. “We have a big weekend senior weekend and then the next
weekend we have NCAAs. So any win is a good win; it’s
positive for our team.”