In her second match ever in Pauley Pavilion, freshman middle blocker Katie Camp emerged from her usual role-playing position to become a key component of the Bruins’ Saturday three-set sweep of Washington State, especially in the final period.
Camp slammed eight kills on as many attempts in the third set, as well as three kills on seven attempts in the first two sets.
To put the numbers into perspective, Camp only averages 1.93 kills per set on the season.
Not used to the media attention, Camp nearly left the arena before being stopped for an interview.
“We’ve been stressing to be really competitive this entire season,” Camp said. “I felt like tonight we really listened to our coaches and really wanted to put them away in the last game, and we did.”
Camp explained that by going up earlier for attacks, she was more available for sets and took pressure off the outside hitters.
“Once that started going, I was really happy that it all started coming together,” Camp said.
AROUND THE PAC-10: The Pac-10 showed the strength of its member schools this weekend after seven teams earned American Volleyball Coaches Association top-25 rankings Monday.
Six of the conference’s schools landed in the top-11 spots.
No. 5 California and No. 4 Stanford remain the sole undefeated teams in the conference, both scoring sweeps of the visiting Arizona schools.
Making big moves in the Pac-10, No. 7 Washington rose to third place in the conference with back-to-back five-set road wins over No. 10 UCLA and No. 11 USC.
The Huskies’ victory was the first win by a visiting team at USC’s Galen Center since October 2006.
Off to a woeful start, Washington State remains in the cellar with no Pac-10 wins.
They fell in straight sets to hosts USC and UCLA.
Finally, after earning a top-25 ranking for the first time since 1996, No. 25 Oregon State lost in straight sets at rival No. 6 Oregon.
CHANGES OFF THE COURT: As a new addition to the Pauley Pavilion floor this year, the Bruins placed fences behind the Sport Court surface to stop players from beginning their serves off the court, which specifically affects the Bruins’ senior outside hitter Ali Daley.
Having served mostly from off the court last season, Daley is no longer able to do so.
“They put up a fence because coaches were complaining because I’m not visible from their bench,” Daley said. “But I think they just don’t want me serving deep because I got them in trouble, and they got some way to complain about it.”
Daley added she does not mind having to serve from other parts of the court.
Pac-10 Associate Commissioner Chris Dawson clarified the addition of the fences behind the Sport Court.
“There is a new NCAA volleyball playing rule which essentially requires that the playing area be rectangular in shape so that all players and officials can see the whole court.
“In the past, UCLA had a sort of cutout area beside the bleachers at either end line (where) one section of the bleachers was pulled out, and the one next to it was not from which their players used to serve. The playing rules made that illegal.”
Dawson said that the implementation of the fences themselves was not required, but UCLA set them up on its own accord to show that the area is off-limits.