Coming off of a tough weekend in which UCLA threw some punches but took some blows, the upcoming home stand is a welcome sight for the women’s volleyball team.
The No. 8 Bruins (18-4, 9-3 Pac-12) will face the Colorado Buffaloes (14-10, 6-6) Wednesday night in the first of four straight home matches, all against unranked teams.
All of this comes on the heels of a road trip during which UCLA scored a win over Washington State Friday but a tough loss against No. 5 Washington Sunday. The weekend’s notable absences included injured setter Ryann Chandler and, after she was pulled during Sunday’s game, outside hitter Jordan Anderson.
“It was an opportunity for (Anderson) to take a little breather,” said assistant coach Kaitlin Nielsen. “(Backup hitter) Jess (Ngauamo) went in and did a phenomenal job, so it had less to do with Jordan and more to do with Jess coming in off the bench and bringing energy.”
Freshman Zana Muno took over for Chandler at setter, posting two more double-doubles to bring her total to a team-leading nine.
“Right now, we’re still in kind of day-to-day,” Nielsen said about Chandler’s status. “Our players’ health is the most important thing. … So as far as Ryann, we’re supporting her.”
The next four matches might be a bit of a respite for the Bruins after playing four ranked teams in the past six games.
“We don’t take any team lightly,” said middle blocker Jennie Frager. “We go in with the same outlook as we would with a big game versus Washington or ‘SC.”
Having swept the Buffs earlier in the season, the Bruins have an idea of what they want to continue to do well and what they need to improve on.
“We had a lot of tough serving, we kept them out of system,” said junior libero Taylor Formico of the teams’ first matchup. “That allowed us to put a block up on their outsides.”
In that match, played Oct. 11, UCLA led Colorado in blocks, hitting percentage, kills, and service aces.
“We served and passed really well and we were in a great offensive rhythm all night,” Nielsen said. “And defensively, we were able to dig and get ourselves back into in-system situations.”
Both Frager and Formico said, however, that Colorado would be a tougher opponent this time around.
“I think they’re going to come out way harder; it’s the second round of Pac-12’s,” Formico said. “We can’t let our first win let us think that we’re going to get this win easy.”