Another weekend, another road trip.
After their first home stand of the season ““ a two-weekend-long stint in Pauley Pavilion ““ the Bruins are packing their bags for the seventh time this season and heading to the Pacific Northwest for a pair of matches against the Washington schools.
The No. 12 Bruins (13-5, 3-2 Pac-10) will face the No. 4 Washington Huskies (15-1, 5-1) tonight in Seattle and then the Washington State Cougars (14-3, 3-3) in Pullman on Saturday.
Until their five-set upset at Stanford, the Huskies had not lost a set all season. Facing the team that UCLA coach Andy Banachowski called the most experienced in the Pac-10, the Bruins are hoping for a successful start to their road weekend tonight against Washington.
“We’re trying to stop them in any way we can,” libero Lainey Gera said.
The sophomore missed practice Tuesday and Wednesday with a fever, but both Gera and Banachowski said she will be ready to play tonight.
The biggest focus of tonight’s match, however, will be on containing Washington’s aggressive offense.
“They’ve got some jump servers like we haven’t seen yet,” Banachowski said. “That’s my biggest concern going into Washington ““ our ability to handle their serve.”
The Huskies have 154 aces on the season, with 38 coming from outside hitter Jill Collymore. Seven other players have double-figure ace counts.
UCLA’s ace count is 77 with only three players in double digits.
“They’ve got outstanding players at every position,” Banachowski said. “They’ve got good outside attackers, and their middles are having a phenomenal year as well.”
Led by seniors Airial Salvo and Collymore, the Huskies’ outside hitters present a serious challenge for the Bruins, who have been steadily improving their mediocre attack.
Along with junior Kindra Carlson, Salvo and Collymore combine for an average of 9.49 kills per set.
With the Bruins’ starting outsides, junior Dicey McGraw and freshman Bojana Todorovic, recording a total of 4.85 kills per set, the outside hitting matchup greatly favors the first-place Huskies.
Redshirt freshman Kelcey Dunaway and sophomore Bianca Rowland, the Huskies’ starting middle blockers, are hitting .358 and .514, respectively. They also combine for 88 blocks on the season.
When comparing starting middles, the Bruins certainly have a stronger block than the Huskies. UCLA sophomores Amanda Gil and Katie Camp combine for 133 blocks. Neither Bruin, however, comes close to Rowland’s stunning hitting percentage. Gil hits .379, while Camp hits .303.
Despite the disadvantages that the Bruins seem to face heading to Seattle tonight, McGraw is optimistic, saying that beating Washington has been on their minds since their preseason retreat in Mammoth.
“We’re playing really good and are really fired up because we definitely want to beat the Huskies,” she said. “It was a goal we set in Mammoth from the beginning of our preseason for our whole team to beat the Huskies. … I definitely think it’s attainable.”
Heading to Washington will be the Bruins’ longest road trip since the Ameritas Players Challenge in Lincoln, Neb., in early September. Playing in Seattle, where Banachowski said that upward of 3,000 fans will likely attend, is a significant challenge beyond the Huskies’ potent offense.
“It’s certainly going to be different than what we had last Friday night, that’s for sure,” he said. “Both places to play this weekend are pretty tough.”
Washington State, currently tied with the Trojans for fourth place in the conference, will also be backed by a hostile crowd.
“They’re in a smaller gym, and I think it gets even noisier there,” Banachowski said. “We’re going to have to really shut out the distractions of the crowd and be able to focus on ourselves.”
As for any possibility of a hangover from last week’s sweep of the Trojans? Banachowski said the Bruins took an extra day off from the win on Monday, but they are looking forward from the match.
“We put last weekend behind us now, and we’re ready to look forward to the challenges this weekend,” he said.
McGraw pointed out that the Bruins are riding on the momentum from that win.
“It’s definitely still on the back of our minds, but our main focus is for sure Washington,” she said. “We are taking our confidence and our momentum from USC and turning it into beating Washington.”