They say everything is bigger in Texas.
UCLA’s No. 14-seed women’s volleyball team (25-7) will attempt to pull off a win, of appropriate Texas magnitude, against the host No. 3-seed Texas Longhorns (27-2) in the NCAA Austin Regional on Friday night.
On paper, these two volleyball powerhouses are relatively similar.
Both teams have an outstanding outside hitter that spearheads their offense. UCLA has junior Jordan Anderson while Texas boasts senior Amy Neal.
Anderson does have a slight statistical advantage coming in with 500 kills total and 4.39 per set while Neal has 416 total and 4.29 per set. It must be noted, however, that Anderson has played 17 more sets that Neal has this season.
Behind their amazing hitters, both teams retain a balanced attack. Notable players for UCLA would include sophomore Reily Buechler, redshirt sophomore Jessyka Ngauamo, junior Claire Felix and redshirt junior Haley Lawless while Texas counters with junior Paulina Prieto Cerame, junior Chiaka Ogbogu and senior Molly McCage.
The Bruins and Longhorns do their part when it comes to blocking but they wouldn’t be considered heavy blocking teams. Both rely on excellent liberos: UCLA on junior Taylor Formico and Texas on sophomore Cat McCoy.
Formico, who posted 537 digs this season, was recently named Pac-12 Libero of the Year and chosen for the AVCA Pacific South All-Region Team while McCoy, who put up 404 digs of her own, was picked up for the All-Big 12 Second Team and Academic All-Big 12 First Team.
The victor will move on to the next round Saturday to face the winner of Florida-Wisconsin, while the loser transitions into the off-season thinking about what could have been.
Compiled by Grant Sugimura, Bruin Sports contributor.