The last time the UCLA women’s volleyball team faced a non-conference opponent, it stumbled to a pair of losses to unranked Long Beach State and Cal State Fullerton. Less than a week later, an unranked Arizona State squad swept the Bruins in their season opener.
Oh, how the tables have turned.
“We just looked at our film at the beginning of the year, and it’s funny because we do so many things differently now,” senior opposite Kaitlin Sather said. “Looking at film is kind of reassuring because we lost to them earlier.”
The No. 8-seeded Bruins (23-8) enter Friday’s first round matchup with the unseeded 49ers (22-8) coming off a pair of sweeps over the Arizona schools and some considerable momentum. The Bruins have won 10 of their last 12 matches, six of which came against ranked opponents. The 49ers have won nine of their last 12, but only one of those wins came against a ranked team.
But for freshman setter Lauren Cook, Friday’s match will be just as challenging as the 18 conference matches the Bruins have had this year.
“I think they’re going to be pretty competitive, actually,” she said. “I think it’ll be just like another Pac-10 match.”
The competitiveness of the Pac-10, which produced eight tournament teams, has certainly allowed the Bruins to prepare for this weekend, Sather said.
“Every weekend we’ve played, we’ve had tough matches,” she said. “There is no better preparation, than playing in the Pac-10, for the tournament because we’ve had to be on our game every single weekend, whereas a lot of other teams play in a lot easier conferences. They don’t have the challenges we face every single weekend.”
Facing the Big West champions, the Bruins are still looking for “revenge,” as junior outside hitter Dicey McGraw put it, after the early-season sweep at the hands of the 49ers.
Nearly absent in their first match-up, the Bruin defense will be vital in forcing Long Beach State out of its comfort zone, according to coach Andy Banachowski.
“We let Long Beach pretty much stay in system,” Banachowski said. “They’re an excellent team when they stay in system. They’re trained well. They’ve got good hitters. We just have to get them out of system, and I think we’ll fare better.”
Cook added that the Bruins’ growth will be critical.
“We’ve matured a lot, and just the way we’re doing things now is a lot better,” she said.
Hole doubtful for postseason
Freshman outside hitter Mari Hole, a vital bench player for the Bruins this season, broke her right pinky finger during a blocking drill at Tuesday’s practice. Hole is likely to miss the entire postseason.
Hole is fourth on the team with 2.09 kills per set and hits .182.
Bruins earn Pac-10 honors
Headlining a list of Bruins earning mention in the conference’s end-of-season accolades, Cook was named Pac-10 freshman of the year. Cook has emerged as UCLA’s starting setter in her rookie year and is seventh in the conference with 10.62 assists per set.
Last year, another Bruin, middle blocker Amanda Gil, won the award.
“Like we said, we’ve been young, this team, and you see we’ve got some great players in that freshman and sophomore class, and that’s been our strength,” Banachowski said.
Sather and Gil earned first-team honors. Gil leads in the conference with 1.55 blocks per set and is fifth in the conference with a .357 hitting percentage.
Sather, coming off a shoulder surgery that kept her sidelined all of last season, has emerged as a critical leader both on and off the court this season. Sather leads the Bruins with 16 double-doubles this year.
“It’s been crucial for our success, for Kaitlin to get herself together and get comfortable again with her arm swing,” Banachowski said.
Cook, McGraw and sophomore libero Lainey Gera were named to the honorable mention team while Cook, Hole and freshman outside hitter Bojana Todorovic earned honorable mention on the freshman team.