Traveling to Hawaii this weekend, the Bruins weren’t focused on buying souvenir leis or soaking up sunshine on the beach.
Instead, it was a complete business trip for No. 3 UCLA, who rolled through the Verizon Volleyball Challenge with three wins and no losses against Idaho (2-8), San Diego State (6-2) and No. 9 Hawaii (7-2), respectively.
Through the first two matches, the Bruins (6-1) dominated on both sides of the ball en route to successive straight-set wins.
The offense, led by senior outside hitter Rachael Kidder, showed noticeable improvement from earlier in the season. UCLA had its two highest hitting percentage games of the season, up to that point, in back-to-back nights.
“Our team is running a good offense. Our middles have been getting up quick and opening up seams for the outsides. Just all around everyone’s been playing hard which makes everyone else’s job a little bit easier,” Kidder said.
The defense also enjoyed much of the same success. Both Idaho and SDSU were held to a below .200 hitting percentage, mainly due to UCLA’s physical blocking.
“(Defense) has been our focus going into these matches,” said senior outside hitter Bojana Todorovic. “We’ve been saying we want to play really relentless block defense. Just doing everything we can and going after it on defense and really trying to give it everything.”
The motor behind the Bruins’ strong performance was their unwavering focus. They came into the first two games as heavy favorites, but never underestimated their opponents.
“I would never say a game’s easy. Any team can come out and play a really strong match. It’s up to you to step up and play your own game as well,” Todorovic said.
UCLA carried that momentum into its toughest game of the tournament against Hawai’i.
The Rainbow Warriors took a thrilling first set, 30-28. That hiccup, though, seemed to spark the team, as the Bruins rallied to win the next three sets. The comeback was fueled by UCLA’s blocking. The team totaled 16.5 blocks to Hawai’i’s five in the match.
While the Bruins’ physicality and blocking was a model for consistency this weekend, the team’s setting position continued to be anything but that.
Freshman Becca Strehlow started the first game of the tournament, and sophomore Megan Moenoa started the next two games.
Coach Mike Sealy has yet to name a consistent starter and isn’t likely to do so any time soon.
“Neither (setter has the advantage). The position is wide open until one of them takes it,” Sealy said, adding that there is no deadline to name a starting setter. “There will not be a starter named for a long, long time.”
For now, the setter controversy seems to be a minor issue as the team has been thriving regardless of who is playing the position.
Instead, Sealy has his team focused on simpler matters.
“We just got to get better every single time we play,” Sealy said.