The UCLA women’s volleyball team seems to be stuck in the middle of the Pac-10 standings. After a long weekend of traveling, No. 9 UCLA (16-8, 6-7 Pac-10) was unable to improve its standing in the conference, as it split its series against Washington State (7-17, 0-13 Pac-10) and No. 5 Washington (19-4, 10-3 Pac-10).
The biggest test for the Bruins this weekend was the match against the Huskies. After falling to Washington in five games back in October, UCLA fell short of getting redemption. Washington defeated UCLA 17-25, 25-19, 25-18, 25-22.
“It was not as competitive as we would have liked to have been on our side of the court,” senior outside hitter Ali Daley said. “Washington is a really tough team.”
After the teams split the first two games, UCLA had the 11-9 advantage in the third set. But thanks to four kills from Huskies’ redshirt junior Jill Collymore and three aces served up by junior Airial Salvo, Washington went on a 9-0 run to take the lead 18-11. The run propelled the Huskies to a win in the third game, 18-25. The Bruins had the lead at the beginning of Game 4 as well. Two kills and a block from sophomore outside hitter Juliane Piggott and three kills from freshman middle blocker Katie Camp helped put UCLA on top 6-3. But with the score tied at 16-16, the Huskies started to pull away to win the game and the match.
“The main thing was just serving and passing for us,” Daley said. “They had nine aces against us, and we missed a lot of serves and did not serve tough enough against them.”
Despite the loss, the Bruins were stronger on the offensive end than the Huskies. UCLA finished the match with more team kills, a higher hitting percentage, and more team blocks. Camp continued her solid hitting performances with 13 kills. For the defense, senior libero Jessica Fine finished with 22 digs.
The most historical stat from the match was senior setter Nellie Spicer’s 46 assists. Spicer ranks third on UCLA’s career assists list. After this weekend’s matches, she needs just 10 assists to surpass Ann Boyer for second place.
“She does such a good job setting up her hitters all of the time,” coach Andy Banachowski said. “She is able to turn a bad pass into a good pass. She truly is an outstanding setter.”
The Bruins swept Washington State on Friday night, 25-13, 25-18, 25-17. After the teams tied the score six times and saw five lead changes in the first game, UCLA took control of the match when Daley went on a 10-point service run. After taking the 16-6 lead in the first, the Bruins had no trouble staying on top of Washington State in the second game. The Cougars challenged the Bruins in the third set, but with the Bruins up 19-16, UCLA went on a 6-1 scoring run to finish off the game.
“Basically before the game, we prepared really well and we did the job that we were supposed to do,” Daley said. “We put up good numbers in all areas.”
Dicey McGraw led both teams with 14 kills, and Daley added eight kills. The Cougars, who have yet to win a Pac-10 match this season, had no player with more than six kills, but their junior libero Kelly Hyder finished with a match-high 20 digs.