Although its split decision at the Oregon schools this weekend may not have satisfied the ambitious UCLA women’s volleyball team, the work of a few bench players on Saturday night saved the Bruins from what could have been a disastrous blow to its season.
After a disappointing loss to No. 11 Oregon on Friday night, the No. 5 Bruins battled back from a 2-1 set deficit to overcome Oregon State on Saturday, dodging the unsettling possibility of starting 0-3 in Pac-10 conference play.
With starting outside hitters Ali Daley and Dicey McGraw struggling in the early stages of the match, it was sophomore Emily Clements who stepped into the spotlight to give UCLA the necessary offense to pull out the win.
“She had an absolutely insane game,” McGraw said. “She definitely brought the spark that our team needed to win.”
Clements, who was forced to redshirt last year after tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in her right knee, led the Bruins and recorded career highs with 16 kills and 6 blocks.
After posting a 25-21 win in the first set, UCLA followed that with a low .060 hitting percentage over the next two sets to allow the Beavers to take victories of 21-25 and 22-25 in the second and third sets, respectively.
But then in the fourth set, the Bruin defense helped lead a surge, with freshman middles Katie Camp and Amanda Gil registering a large portion of their combined 17 blocks on the night to win 25-15. In the final set, two straight kills by Clements allowed the Bruins to win 15-11 and assured them of a much more comfortable plane ride back to Los Angeles.
Oregon State, who upset fourth-ranked USC in its Friday night match-up, showed the Bruins that they are much improved from the team that went 3-15 in 2007 and finished second-to-last in the Pac-10.
“We knew they had the big win from the night before and we knew they were a much more mature team than last year, so we tried to do our best to bounce back from our loss the previous night,” coach Andy Banachowski said. “We had a long, hard, well-fought match tonight.”
With 12 players seeing action on the court against the Beavers, UCLA managed to find the necessary performance through a combined effort.
“Definitely everyone on the team played a role tonight,” McGraw said.
Against Oregon, however, the Bruins were not able to find such help. Although UCLA managed to keep the scores close for much of the night, they fell in four games. The Bruins were unable to find enough energy to match that of the Ducks on their home court.
“Their intensity level and their attack were stronger than ours,” Banachowski said. “They had the advantage of being at home and they had a good crowd.”
This weekend’s trip ends UCLA’s streak of 14 straight road games and the Bruins are more than ready to return to Pauley Pavilion.
“Now that school has started, I think everyone is kind of anxious about the fact that we haven’t played at home,” Banachowski said. “We’re really looking forward to it next weekend.”