After a seemingly sudden downpour of rain on Wednesday, cooler October weather appears to be on its way to Los Angeles. The UCLA women’s volleyball team, however, hopes that its hot streak stays aflame as it goes on the road to face the schools in the desert ““ Arizona and Arizona State.
Just five days after returning home from a victorious road trip, the No. 2 Bruins (13-2, 6-1 Pac-12) will travel to Tempe, Ariz., to compete against Arizona State (4-11, 0-6) on Friday. Though the Sun Devils are still seeking their first conference win this year, they have managed to pull off upset victories at home against UCLA in two consecutive years, so this could be a potential trap for the successful Bruins.
The Bruins will then travel to Tucson, Ariz., where they will face Arizona (10-5, 2-4), a team that the Bruins have defeated six consecutive times.
With both Arizona State and Arizona trying to redeem their season, coach Mike Sealy knows his team needs to perform its best during this road trip.
“Anytime UCLA comes into anyone’s gym, they’re excited to play,” Sealy said. “Anytime UCLA has a good ranking, they’re even more excited to play. They’ll play the best matches of the year this weekend.”
UCLA/Muscle Milk Student-Athlete of the Week, junior outside hitter Bojana Todorovic, knows that she needs to continue to perform well and help the team.
“I know my role,” Todorovic said. “I know what I need to do, what my coach expects of me, what my teammates expect of me, and I’m gonna do my best to meet those expectations against every team we play.”
Todorovic knows how to fill a crucial role for the team, as sophomore outside hitter Kelly Reeves sat on the bench with a minor injury against Utah and Colorado last week. Todorovic had a career-high .750 hitting percentage against Colorado. Both she and senior middle blocker Katie Camp filled in for many of Reeves’ responsibilities.
Even Camp has not been healthy since severely injuring her knee in November last year. Since then she had to get surgery and is making a slow recovery back onto the court.
“I still try as hard as I can for the team,” Camp said. “My knee isn’t 100 percent yet, but if they need me to start because it’ll get us a good matchup, I can fill that role.”
Coach Sealy will make the decision to play Reeves depending on her status at game time.
“If I don’t have to play her, I won’t,” Sealy said.
With so many teams trying to knock them down, the Bruins do not let their No. 2 ranking get to their heads.
“If we keep thinking about the numbers, that’s when we lose focus,” Camp said. “Numbers don’t matter except in seeding for the tournament, so we just want to stay in the top-five to get a good seed. We just need to keep working hard.”