It was all UCLA tonight in Pauley Pavilion as the No. 8-seeded Bruins swept Long Beach State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.The Bruins avenged their early-season sweep to the 49ers with a dominant victory, showcasing their serving and defense.
“We felt we had a score to settle with Long Beach since they beat us earlier in the year and I think that helped, motivated us quite a bit,” coach Andy Banachowski said.
And with that chip on their shoulder, UCLA blazed eight aces past the Beach passing and held them to a mere .178 clip.
“I thought our serving was very effective tonight and was able to get them out of rhythm and get them out of their offense and make them more predictable a bit and get some block and digs,” Banachowski said.
The Bruins, winning 25-20, 25-20, 25-16, were close for the early part of each set, but managed to pull out commanding wins. Banachowski attributed this to his team getting comfortable and adjusting to Long Beach’s offense early.
After the intermission, the Bruins came back on the court, allowing Long Beach to establish a lead early. The Bruins would tie the set at 10 but that was just the start of a big run. Freshman outside hitter Bojana Todorovic hit two aces in a row to extend the lead to 19-14. The Bruins never looked back, allowing only two 49er points before closing out the set on what was, in the end, an 18-7 run.
“We wanted to go to the second round,” redshirt senior opposite Kaitlin Sather said.
Sather had seven kills, including the game winner, three digs and two blocks in that set, leading the Bruins to a dominant finish.
Junior outside hitter Dicey McGraw, who added four kills and no hitting errors in that set, said her team was “ready to get the game over with.”
“I think we saw what they were doing and we made our adjustments,” Sather added. “We were able to establish our own game on top of what they were giving us.”
Banachowski said the early 2-0 lead reminded him of situations earlier in the season where a dominant performance early would turn into a close, five-set match.
“I think we realized we didn’t want to be in that situation again and there was a lot of desire and intensity for us in that third game,” he said.
For McGraw, the victory was a case of UCLA being well prepared and playing their own style, something they did not do when they faced Long Beach State back in September.
“Our side of the net was much better,” she said. “We did every aspect of the game. We served well, passed well hit well. And it was just all us the whole time.”
The Bruins finished with a .290 hitting average and seven blocks against the Big West Conference champion 49ers and will next face Baylor, who swept Georgia Tech earlier today.