UCLA’s school colors will change from blue and gold to pink and white for the women’s volleyball team this weekend. As one of the five Breast Cancer Awareness events that UCLA athletics is hosting, the volleyball team will raise money for The Revlon/UCLA Breast Center.
This is the second consecutive year the volleyball team has had a Breast Cancer Awareness weekend to commemorate Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October.
The event hits especially close to home for the Bruins, because assistant coach Kim Jagd was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2006. With UCLA supporting her through the battle, Jagd underwent eight chemotherapy infusions and radiation treatment.
Throughout the entire process, Jagd remained an active coach for the Bruins, and today, she is a survivor of breast cancer.
“She was very involved, and it was good for her to always have a goal to try and come back and recover quickly,” coach Andy Banachowski said. “She got a lot of support from the girls, and I think she was an inspiration to the girls.”
As the Bruins get set to play No. 4 California on Friday and No. 5 Stanford on Sunday, the team is also getting ready for all of the changes that will be made to the match for the special event.
The most profound change the Bruins will make will be the pink and white jerseys each player will don. Most of the team will wear a specially made white jersey with pink numbers for the matches. Senior libero Jessica Fine, whose position entails wearing a different colored jersey than the rest of the team, will wear a pink jersey.
“Jess got to wear hers in Arizona because it was their Breast Cancer Week,” sophomore outside hitter Dicey McGraw said. “Hers looked cute.”
While the pink and white jerseys are a new addition to the Breast Cancer Awareness weekend for the volleyball team, the Bruins will continue to play matches with a pink volleyball.
For the crowd, the first 250 fans to attend each match will receive a Breast Cancer awareness bracelet. The giveaways do not end there, because Wilson, the company that makes the volleyballs, has also generously donated a number of items to raffle off during the matches.
“Wilson also has a line of items, and all the profit goes to breast cancer research,” Banachowski said. “We will be giving away golf balls, a golf bag, tennis rackets, pink umbrellas. Wilson has been very generous and donated a lot of items for us this weekend.”
After the match against Stanford, every player’s jersey and the pink volleyballs will be put up for auction at UCLABruins.com. All of the money raised from the auction will go to The Revlon/UCLA Breast Center.
“We give to the Revlon Breast Cancer Center here since it’s home and that is where Kim had her treatments,” Banachowski said.
JADE MACHADO OUT FOR TWO WEEKS: Senior defensive specialist Jade Machado missed last week’s series against the Arizona schools due to a foot injury. Earlier last week, Machado fractured her left foot and is required to wear a protective boot for the next two weeks. According to Banachowski, no specific incident caused Machado’s injury but the fracture was possibly the result of overuse. He is not yet sure who will replace her for Friday’s match against California.