It was senior night.
The women’s volleyball team was fighting for an NCAA tournament bid.
Oh, and it was hosting USC.
Those were the circumstances under which the Bruins swept their cross-town rivals on Nov. 28, 2008, the last time the Trojans came to Pauley.
Ten months later, the No. 16 Bruins (12-5, 2-2 Pac-10) are once again hosting the No. 13 Trojans (13-3, 2-2) except with a little less on the line. It’s only the third week of conference play and the Bruins are still finding themselves offensively.
However, for redshirt senior opposite Kaitlin Sather, USC is still USC, and the match means just as much as last year’s.
“It’s ‘SC, so it doesn’t take a lot to get fired up to play them,” she said. “We’ve got to represent the four letters on our chest. It’s such a classic rivalry game.”
As for this year’s USC match being so early in the season?
“We’ve got fire, I don’t think it really matters what time of year,” Sather said.
After practice Thursday, members of the women’s volleyball team were fliering on Bruin Walk. Sophomore libero Lainey Gera, who came off the bench against USC last season to chip in with six digs and an ace serve, said the Bruins are hoping to fill Pauley Pavilion tonight.
Aside from the emotions and rivalry behind tonight’s match, the Bruins’ focus remains on defeating the Trojans with a calculated attack.
“It’s gonna be a challenge for all our younger kids to keep their composure in an environment that just gets you so hyped up,” coach Andy Banachowski said.
But the main focus of the match will be stacking up the Bruins’ fast offense with the Trojans’ strong outside hitting.
“Their strength is on the outside, really relying on their outside hitters a lot,” Banachowski said. “I think maybe we’re a little bit more of a middle-dominated team. That’s where we’re getting our best offensive production from.”
USC’s starting outside hitters, senior Jessica Gysin and sophomore Alex Jupiter, account for a combined 7.97 kills per set while the Bruins’ expected starters at outside hitter, junior Dicey McGraw and freshman Bojana Todorovic, average a total of merely 4.78 kills per set.
The middle blocker match-up features a pair of Bruin sophomores, Amanda Gil and Katie Camp, who have 126 total blocks this season along with a combined .345 hitting average facing USC’s middles, sophomore Lauren Williams and junior Zoe Garrett, who have hit .329 while racking up just 77 total blocks.
“I think our middles can really do some damage this game,” Sather said. “We run a faster offense.”
Seniors host USC for last time
Sather and senior opposite Emily Clements are playing in their last match against USC in Pauley Pavilion.
A Santa Rosa native, Sather said her family usually attends the weekend double headers but will be in attendance tonight.
Coaching staff feeds the Den
Coming out of the locker room after intermission at both games last weekend, the UCLA coaching staff hand-delivered pizza to the UCLA student section.
“We just thought it would be nice to feed our animals out there,” Banachowski joked.
The coaching staff plans to bring pizza to the student section again tonight.