A day after dropping its sixth Pac-12 match, the UCLA women’s volleyball team held a meeting.
During the meeting, their coaches made it clear that the team’s mistakes and lack of focus had cost it vital points, sapping momentum and turning winnable matches into trying losses. If the Bruins were to win, they had to cut down on their mistakes.
“There was a lack of attention to detail,” said coach Michael Sealy. “The quality of the passing was very poor; you had players that weren’t paying attention to the pass or the set. We were just whacking balls around, and that makes it really, really difficult to stay in our system.”
The assessment seemed to work, as UCLA (11-7, 2-6 Pac-12) followed up its 3-0 loss to Arizona with a 3-0 victory over No. 22 Arizona State (13-7, 2-6), a match in which the Bruins seemed to escape the concentration and focus issues that had plagued them throughout their disappointing start to the Pac-12 campaign.
“I feel like today we did a better job of following our assignments (than against Arizona),” said senior middle blocker Mariana Aquino. “That was the biggest difference (between the two matches).”
Junior outside hitter Karsta Lowe led the team with 17 kills, junior setter Megan Moenoa had 29 assists and sophomore libero Karly Drolson had 16 digs to lead the Bruins. Though UCLA made 20 errors, few came in crucial spots, and the Bruins were able to put the Sun Devils away without much trouble.
It was a strong turnaround from UCLA’s previous match, in which the team squandered points at important times, giving Arizona (15-5, 5-3) new life time and time again. The most egregious example of this occurred in the match’s first set, in which the Bruins, up 22-21, gave away four straight points to drop the set.
“It became obvious to us that if we needed to take care of the little details, it was important to maintain our assignments,” Moenoa said. “We needed to get back to our discipline – not even volleyball, really, but in (preparing for games), too.”
Not all the news from Sunday’s match was good, however. Redshirt freshman outside hitter Haley Lawless, who decided to play despite not being 100 percent healthy, hurt her left knee after coming down awkwardly after a swing. Lawless had to leave the court and there was no prognosis for her return, though Sealy seemed resigned to seeing her miss at least a few games.
If Lawless does miss extended time, the Bruins will be forced to switch up their lineup to replace her, with sophomore Maddy Klineman and freshman Jessyka Ngauamo likely taking up the majority of her reps at outside hitter.
Despite the injury news, the Bruins’ spirits were not dampened, and team members genuinely believed that they had made significant progress in overcoming the issues that have plagued them throughout the year.
Aquino in particular was extremely excited about the victory, and said she believed it would have a positive impact on the team’s play in the future.
“We are playing with a lot of confidence right now,” she said. “Confidence not just in ourselves, but confidence in the staff, in the team, each other.”
The Bruins will play next on Oct. 25 against Washington in Pauley Pavilion.