On its road trip north to the Bay Area this weekend, the women’s volleyball team just didn’t have enough gas in the tank to pull off two come-from-behind victories against No. 10 California and No. 2 Stanford.
Down two games to none, the fifth-ranked Bruins (13-2, 3-1 Pac-10) overtook the Golden Bears (10-4, 0-4) on Thursday, taking them to five games and winning 28-30, 24-30, 30-28, 31-29, 15-9.
But on Friday, the competition was too much for UCLA to handle. The Bruins were unable to stage another comeback against the conference-leading Cardinal (14-0, 3-0), and fell in straight sets 30-20, 30-23, 31-29.
These late game resurgences may become common for the Bruins throughout the year, as coach Andy Banachowski says part of the team’s game plan each match is to read and adjust to the opponent accordingly.
“Our strength is to play defensively and counterattack,” Banachowski said. “We just have to play through the game and make adjustments as we go along. We’re a counterpuncher; that’s our style. But sometimes it takes us awhile to get going.”
And as seen Thursday and Friday, it took two sets to get going against the Bears on their home court and nearly three against the Cardinal to get into a groove.
“Both of those teams are very physical,” Banachowski said. “It takes us awhile to adjust to the tempo.”
Against Cal, the Bruins were able to pull off the five-game upset because of what Banachowski termed the “toughness of the team.”
Banachowski also switched up the lineup, moving outside hitter Ali Daley next to setter Nellie Spicer for a different offensive look.
“We wouldn’t give up,” Banachowski said.
“We started getting used to their rhythm a little bit, and we made a slight adjustment, moving outside hitters. It looked a little different to Cal.”
Daley finished the match with a double-double, leading the team with 18 kills and 21 digs on the night.
On Friday, however, the opposition proved to be too tough for another mid-match breakthrough.
“Stanford is certainly worthy of their (No. 2) ranking the way they’re playing,” Banachowski said.
“Stanford is tough physically and mentally. They didn’t want to give up a game at home. But we started to make a comeback. We had a good third game. We just had a couple of breakdowns at the end.”
Going into the weekend as the No. 5 team in the country, the Bruins weren’t entirely disappointed with the outcome, despite splitting the matches.
“It’s tough to go on the road and play,” Banachowski said. “We were fortunate to get that five-game win over (the Bears). It will help us in the conference standings.”
The Bruins will get the chance to further improve that conference record Friday, when they host crosstown rival USC at Pauley Pavilion.