The UCLA women’s volleyball game against USC on Friday night felt less like a rivalry game and more like a blue-and-gold dominated match. With 3,180 fans in attendance, the Bruins (13-5, 3-2 Pac-10) swept the Trojans (13-4, 2-3 Pac-10) in a high-intensity match, 27-25, 25-20, 25-22.
It did not take long for UCLA to get its momentum going to start the match. The Bruins went up 4-1 thanks to kills from outside hitters Bojana Todorovic and Dicey McGraw, as well as opposite Kaitlin Sather.
Showing signs of fatigue, USC was forced to call its first time-out with the score at 11-6. Coming back onto the court, the Trojans scored six straight points to take the lead 12-11. The teams went back and forth exchanging the lead until the end of the first set.
With USC at game point 24-22, the Bruins scored two points in a row off of USC sophomore outside hitter Alex Jupiter’s foot-fault and a Sather kill. The Bruins finally put the first game away at 27-25 after the redshirt senior Sather tallied another kill off of an unusual assist from sophomore middle blocker Amanda Gil. Given the tight score, Sather attributed the high-score first set win to the Bruins’ ability to maintain their concentration.
“We have all of the talent in the world; it’s just a matter of putting it into focus,” Sather said.
UCLA maintained its momentum in the second set, never trailing after the first play.
Early in the third set, USC began to show that it could match the Bruins’ intensity. UCLA fell behind 11-8, but Sather eventually catapulted four kills in the final nine points to lead the Bruins to victory.
“I thought we were getting a little tired because they were playing so hard,” coach Andy Banachowski said. “But we came up with a reserve at the end of that third game.”
UCLA effectively contained the Trojans’ outside hitters Jupiter and senior Jessica Gysin. By focusing on blocking during practice, the Bruins successfully took away USC’s favorite shots.
“We were working our butts off all week in practice,” Gil said. “We were putting in the time and effort to make ourselves better.”
Sather finished with a game-high 15 kills and 15 digs. Freshman setter Lauren Cook reported 47 assists and 10 digs. The victory over USC puts UCLA in third place of the Pac-10 conference.
After the match, UCLA gave much credit to the full crowd for its role in the win. The team had encouraged fans to come out to the game and was happy with the outcome.
“This was our best crowd that we have had for years and years,” Banachowski said. “We were taken aback. My heart was pumping faster than it has ever pumped at a match here. It was a great atmosphere, and our fans certainly helped us at a lot of times.”