The results of the UCLA women’s volleyball team’s weekend series against Arizona and Arizona State may not have been expected, considering the Bruins’ showing the last time they took the court.
UCLA was coming off a win against then-No.1 Stanford and were meshing together nicely, playing an efficient style of volleyball.
Instead it turned into two games that were up for grabs with UCLA earning a split, beating Arizona 22-25, 25-23, 24-26, 25-15, 16-14 on Friday and losing to Arizona State 26-28, 19-25, 26-24, 20-25 on Saturday.
The No. 10 Bruins (13-5, 3-4 Pac-10) were greeted with a back-and-forth battle against No. 25 Arizona (14-6, 3-4 Pac-10) Friday night.
Arizona set the tone early, taking the opening set, 25-22.
In the second set, UCLA was quick on the rebound. Sophomore opposite Rachael Kidder, who had 18 kills, a career-high 11 digs and four blocks in the match, stopped the threatening Wildcats at 24-22 with the set-winning kill, tying it up at one set apiece.
The Bruins faced a 2-1 deficit after Arizona took the third set but came back in the fourth and forced a crucial fifth set.
Freshman outside hitter Kelly Reeves took over in the fifth with three kills, adding to her match total of 17 and securing a Bruin victory.
The win was impressive considering that UCLA was without starting junior setter Lauren Van Orden. Van Orden suffered an undisclosed injury during practice on Tuesday that kept her out of the weekend matches.
Coach Mike Sealy admitted to being a bit nervous as to who would fill his setter’s shoes.
“It turned into survival. It turned into “˜OK, how are we going to play volleyball? What are we going to do? How are we going to survive?'” Sealy said.
With Van Orden out, the Bruins had to rely on freshman defensive specialist Madie Smith, who had not practiced setting since August and had yet to start a game for UCLA.
Smith had an impressive debut and recorded 52 assists and a career-high 12 digs on Friday.
“It was surprising to me, I wasn’t nervous when I stepped onto the court,” Smith said. “Everyone was a little nervous that it was my first Pac-10 game. But once I touched the ball, I felt like I was connecting with the outsides and middles, and I felt good about it”.
After those five sets, the Bruins had to play against ASU Saturday on tired legs.
“You could tell during the warm-ups, it was going to be ugly,” Sealy said.
The Bruins had a 24-21 first set lead in their hands, but could not get the final point and lost 28-26.
After that, the tone was set. ASU took the second 25-19, and while UCLA made a comeback to take the third, the Sun Devils proved to be too much, winning the fourth 25-20.
With Van Orden out and the offense missing its centerpiece, the Bruins still managed to split the road trip, which is something sophomore outside hitter Bojana Todorovic sees as positive in terms of where the team is headed.
“Now, we know that no matter what happens, we can still beat some of the best teams that are out there,” Todorovic said.