This past weekend, the UCLA women’s volleyball team faced some tough competition against the top two teams in the Pac-10. In both matches, the Bruins came up short, falling to No. 4 California (18-2, 8-1) and No. 5 Stanford (17-3, 8-1 Pac-10) in Pauley Pavilion.
With both matches going well over two hours, the Bruins fell apart late in each match.
Despite a fast start, the Bruins fell to the Cardinal by a tally of 25-22, 14-25, 22-25, 23-25 on Sunday afternoon.
The Bruins featured a ferocious attack against Stanford in the first set. Registering a .438 clip, the Bruins closed out the first set with only 32 swings. But in the next three sets, the Bruins needed 40, 43 and 44 swings.
Senior outside hitter Ali Daley shouldered much of the attacking Sunday, taking 58 of the Bruins’ 159 swings, 37 of which came in the last two sets.
“We wore her out,” coach Andy Banachowski said. “She had a phenomenal match, especially in the beginning, and she just wore down.”
“I’ve been working on getting my shoulders stronger, but I think about … middle fourth game I might have gotten a little tired,” Daley said.
After a solid start in the first set, the Bruins seemed unable to start a set well. The Bruins did not have a lead from winning the first set to being up 23-22 in the fourth set.
“It’s tough to be always coming from behind, but we’ve got a good team and they’re starting to find themselves out there,” Banachowski said.
Rebuffing any rumors of a lack of confidence for the Bruins’ inability to close out the match, Daley explained the team’s issue is taking care of the ball.
Earlier in the weekend, the Bruins showed a more balanced attack but were unable to defeat the Pac-10 leading Bears, 28-30, 25-22, 21-25, 25-21, 13-15.
Despite another career night by freshman middle blocker Katie Camp, who led both teams with 19 kills and a .538 clip, the Bruins failed to overpower the Bears’ attack.
Expecting problems from Cal junior outside hitter Hana Cutura, the Bruins held her to a mere .045 clip in the first two sets but finished off the match with only two hitting errors and a .238 clip.
“(Cutura) kept coming at us, and we lost control of our block and were timing it a little off,” senior setter Nellie Spicer said.
The decisive fifth set saw the Bruins’ fatigue set in. Despite keeping the first half of the set close, the Bruins’ attack proved too weak for the Bears, who hit only one error and recorded four blocks in the fifth set.
With the first half of the Pac-10 season behind them, the Bruins are in a less than favorable position, tied with USC for fifth in the conference.
“We’re down a little bit, but I like the way we’re playing and I think we’re going to get a lot better in the second half of the conference,” Banachowski said.