After traveling across the country for the first and second rounds of the NCAA Tournament, the UCLA women’s volleyball team is playing in more familiar territory this weekend.
Last weekend the eighth-seeded Bruins (22-10) defeated Alabama A&M and Clemson in South Carolina to advance to the Stanford Regional of the Sweet 16.
In addition to the No. 1-overall seeded Stanford (29-2), the other teams in the Stanford Regional include familiar Pac-10 foe Oregon (22-10) and No. 16 Cal Poly San Luis Obispo (23-7). The Bruins are set to face Oregon on Friday night. The Ducks reached the round of 16 by sweeping Missouri State and beating Kansas State in five games, despite being down 0-2.
Friday’s matchup marks the third time UCLA faces Oregon this season. During Pac-10 play, the Bruins defeated the Ducks 3-1 at Pauley Pavilion in October. Oregon, however, came back and surprisingly defeated UCLA 3-0 when the two teams played in Oregon on Nov. 9.
The Ducks’ biggest threats are junior outside hitter Gorana Maricic and sophomore middle blocker Sonja Newcombe. The two players had a big weekend in the first rounds of the NCAA Tournament, combining for 77 kills and 47 digs over eight games. UCLA knows from experience that it has to contain the two hitters for a chance at advancing.
“There is no question that those two players are the ones who are going to get the ball at crunch time or get the ball most often,” UCLA volleyball coach Andy Banachowski said.
The key to defending Maricic and Newcombe will be solid blocking. According to Banachowski, the Bruins can improve on their blocking from the first round. That has been one thing the team has focused on this week in practice.
“Oregon runs a really fast offense,” junior libero Jessica Fine said. “So we have been working our pin blockers making solo moves, like blocking angles by themselves if the middle (blocker) happens to go the wrong way.”
With the possibility of facing two of their Pac-10 opponents this weekend, the Bruins see both advantages and disadvantages in playing their regular season competition. Since UCLA is already familiar with Oregon and Stanford, the Bruins already understand both teams’ tendencies. However, UCLA knows that most of the strongest teams in the tournament are from the Pac-10.
“It’s good from the standpoint that we have seen them,” Banachowski said. “With the relatively short time to prepare, it’s going to help us a little bit. But on the other hand, they are tough. We know we have a huge task ahead of us this weekend.”
If UCLA does beat Oregon, it will face the winner of the Stanford-Cal Poly San Luis Obispo match on Saturday night. While the Cardinal are no strangers to the Bruins, UCLA has not faced Cal Poly San Luis Obispo since 1985.