The student section fills with fans clad in animal costumes.

A massive blue tarp hangs as the backdrop of the team benches.

And a bright blue and yellow sport court has been set on Pauley Pavilion’s floor.

Just as Pauley Pavilion gets shifted for volleyball games, the women’s volleyball team had some offseason shuffling this past summer to give way to a steady start for their season.

With 13 games down and Pac-10 play right around the corner, the Bruins are ready to improve on their 2008 performance.

Finishing last year with a record of 22-11 and making it to the NCAA regional semifinal, the Bruins relied on a dominant freshman class, led by Pac-10 freshman of the year, middle blocker Amanda Gil.

After losing a veteran senior class consisting of three-time All-American setter Nellie Spicer, outside hitter Ali Daley and All-American libero Jessica Fine, the Bruins entered this season with questions about a lack of veteran leadership.

“We lack a little bit of experience,” redshirt senior outside hitter Kaitlin Sather said. “I’m hoping that we can gain that through maturity.”

Though the loss of their senior class has taken a toll on overall confidence, their 13 matches before the critical Pac-10 matches have been key in building self-assurance.

Standing out among those matches is the Bruins five-set road win over No. 5 Nebraska.

“We’re gonna see other ranked teams that maybe will come up with better performances than Nebraska was able to come up with,” coach Andy Banachowski said. “We are gonna have the confidence that we can weather whatever comes our way.”

“It’s just a huge confidence boost for us to get the win the way we did (against Nebraska).”

On Sept. 13, facing the perennial Big 12 Conference champions in front of an NCAA-record 13,870 audience of almost solely Nebraska supporters, the Bruins pulled off a major upset under the offensive leadership of the tournament’s MVP, freshman setter Lauren Cook.

Expecting a huge turnout, Nebraska coach John Cook said they scheduled the UCLA match to be in Devaney Center, Nebraska’s basketball arena, which holds 9,840 more fans than their usual volleyball arena, the Nebraska Coliseum.

In the five-set victory, the Bruins shocked the sold-out Devaney Center, marking the Huskers first home loss in over five years.

“It will really give us a boost, that we can play a team that is highly ranked and come out on top,” Banachowski said. “Whatever the environment is, it doesn’t make a difference, we can compete.”

With seven Pac-10 teams ranked in Sept. 14’s American Volleyball Coaches’ Association Division I Top-25 poll, the Bruins will face a host of tough opponents in conference play.

UCLA, currently No. 7, is the second-highest ranked Pac-10 team. Washington is currently No. 3, and Stanford, California, USC and Arizona round out the rest of the top-25 teams hailing from the Pac-10.

During the Pac-10 season, the Bruins will face their toughest challenge yet on Oct. 16 in the No. 3 Huskies.

Washington enters this season after a second-round exit from the NCAA tournament last year, and has already had an impressive win of its own ““ a sweep of No. 4 Florida.

Leading the Huskies’ offense is senior outside hitter Jill Collymore with 3.29 kills per set. Last season, Collymore scorched the Bruins with 13 kills on Nov. 9 in Seattle.

The Bruins have their sights set, however, on the NCAA tournament.

Unlike most sports that have a conference tournament before the NCAA tournament, the women’s volleyball team has just five days between their final regular season match, Nov. 28 against Arizona State, and the start of the NCAA Tournament on Dec. 3.

“It’s a blessing and a curse being in the Pac-10 because we see a lot of the best teams in the nation in the conference, so there is no better preparation than the Pac-10,” Sather said. “Going right into the tournament is just like a continuation of the Pac-10 season.”

Though Banachowski said he does not want to make any bold predictions regarding the postseason, he offered a brief analysis of his team’s hopes.

“We want to be contending for a national championship by the end of the year,” Banachowski said. “We are not ready to do that now, but I think we need to put ourselves in a position to get better.”

Sather gave a more audacious prediction: “We want to win Pac-10 and I want a big fat ring on my finger. I mean, gosh, that’s everybody’s goal.”

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