The No. 9 UCLA women’s volleyball team threatened two higher ranked teams during this weekend’s series by pushing both matches to five sets but in the end, it could not overcome the two Bay Area volleyball powerhouses.
UCLA (18-10, 8-9 Pac-10) could not get the matches to swing its way as it fell to No. 7 California (21-5, 11-4) on Friday and No. 2 Stanford (24-3, 15-1) on Saturday. So far this season the Bruins have played seven matches that have gone to five sets. Of those seven matches, UCLA has come out on the short end and lost the match six times. This late in the season, UCLA has become more and more frustrated with losing such close matches.
“Before the game we were all feeling very confident and fired up, but now we are pissed,” senior libero Jessica Fine said. “We are sick of losing five-game matches.”
Friday’s match against Cal went down to the wire. Not only did both teams push the match to a fifth set, but the teams played three sets past the 25-point mark, with scores of 25-17, 24-26, 25-27, 28-26, 13-15.
UCLA and Cal played an evenly competitive match as the two schools tied scores 50 times and had 19 lead changes. The only game that did not depend on the final two points was the first set, which UCLA won 25-17. The Bruins went on three separate runs to give themselves a strong 22-14 advantage and take the first set.
Neither team had such a comfortable lead after that.
The Bears took the next two sets by out-hitting the Bruins. Just when it looked like Cal had the victory secured with a 24-20 lead in the fourth set, senior outside hitter Ali Daley and freshman middle blocker Katie Camp hit two kills to extend the match. They would eventually add points to help lead UCLA to a 28-26 win in the set.
In the fifth game, Cal took the early lead 4-0, but UCLA rallied back with five of the next six points. Later down the stretch, the Bears held a 14-13 lead and a kill from junior outside hitter Hana Cutura sealed the close match for a Cal win.
Daley finished the night with a season-high 19 kills and a career-best 28 digs and seven blocks.
“Ali is a great defensive player and she certainly was on her game,” coach Andy Banachowski said. “She made a tremendous effort to dig so many balls last night.”
UCLA’s hard-fought weekend of long matches continued on Saturday against Stanford, the team at the top of the Pac-10 standings. The Cardinal and the Bruins went back and forth in winning sets, 15-25, 25-20, 15-25, 26-24, 11-15.
Like the night before, the Bruins’ showed their ability to come back in the fourth game. Stanford went on an 8-1 run to take a 20-13 lead, but UCLA pushed through the deficit to close the gap 20-18. A few rallies later, sophomore opposite hitter Emily Clements came up big for the Bruins with three kills to tie the game at 24-24. The Bruins then went to their go-to hitter, Daley, as she killed the ball twice to give the Bruins the Game 4 win and push a fifth game.
UCLA started the fifth game out strongly as they had the 6-5 lead. However, Stanford pulled through in the final moments to score 10 of the last 12 points to win the set and the match.
Stanford’s senior middle blocker Foluke Akinradewo was a key player to the Cardinal’s fifth set victory and finished the match with 14 kills.
“Foluke came up with a couple of clutch kills at the end of the fifth game after we had been kind of keeping her in check a bit throughout the match,” Banachowski said.
Even though the Bruins did not gain the two road victories they were hoping for, Banachowski said that their perseverance in two consecutive five-game matches was impressive.
“It’s been physically, emotionally and mentally draining,” Banachowski said. “But I think the fact that we are able to come back and battle two nights in a row is a great sign that we play with a lot of heart and never give up.”