With the Pac-10 season now over, the UCLA women’s volleyball team is ready to face a new breed of teams from around the country. After receiving the eighth overall seed in the NCAA Tournament, the Bruins (20-10) are preparing to face an unfamiliar foe in Alabama A&M (15-9) in Clemson, S.C. tonight.
In his 41 years of coaching at UCLA, coach Andy Banachowski has never had one of his teams play Alabama A&M. This Friday marks the first time UCLA has competed against a team from the Southwestern Athletic Conference this season. Ever since the selection committee determined the brackets last Sunday, the Bruins have done their best to scout the Alabama A&M Bulldogs.
One thing the Bruins have noticed is that the Bulldogs are a relatively short volleyball team. Alabama A&M’s tallest player is junior middle blocker/outside hitter Brittani Lewis, who is listed at 6 feet. UCLA has a roster of ten players who are 6 feet or taller, which gives the Bruins the advantage at the net. Banachowski, however, recognizes that the Bulldogs have strengths in other areas.
“It looks like they are pretty athletic,” Banachowski said. “A number of them look like they jump pretty well. So, it looks like they will be making up for their lack of height with their athleticism.”
While both the Bulldogs and the Bruins are strangers to each other, Alabama A&M may have the upper hand in pre-match scouting. With six televised UCLA matches available, Alabama A&M has more tapes to study.
“We don’t know what types of things they run,” senior middle blocker Rachell Johnson said. “At the same time our games are televised, so I think we are more accessible to them. We’re going to have to make a lot of game-time adjustments.”
After finishing their Pac-10 season with a 9-9 record, the Bruins feel that the tough competition they have faced in the regular season has made them more than ready to play non-conference teams in the playoffs.
“I’m very confident that the Pac-10 season has prepared us for all styles of play, and whatever (the Bulldogs) do, we should be able to adjust,” Banachowski said.
UCLA views the NCAA Tournament as a new start. With the potential of a season-ending loss coming with each match, the Bruins welcome the intense atmosphere of the playoffs.
“There is a renewed excitement when you get into the playoffs,” Banachowski said. “I think that it’s kind of refreshing like starting over, everybody has a 0-0 record.”
If the Bruins beat Alabama A&M on Friday, they will face the winner of the Alabama-Clemson match on Saturday.
SPICER NAMED FIRST-TEAM ALL-PAC-10: For the third consecutive year, junior setter Nellie Spicer earned her spot on the First-Team All-Pac-10. Spicer finished the regular season with 19 double-doubles and was third in the Pac-10 with 12.80 assists per game. She is the 10th player in UCLA history to garner first-team honors three times.
“Nellie had made tremendous strides this year, as far as learning how to run a team,” Banachowski said. “It’s nice to see how Nellie has grown in her leadership role.”