UCLA women’s volleyball beat No. 12 Stanford in five sets on Saturday and will play No. 19 Oregon – who took UCLA to five earlier this season – on Friday.
But between those two games, No. 9 UCLA will face an opponent it hasn’t lost to in a decade, unranked Oregon State.
“We’re going into it with the same mindset as we went in with Stanford,” said senior middle blocker Jennie Frager. “(Oregon State is) really good. We just have to be prepared every way that we can.”
The Bruins (21-5, 12-4 Pac-12) have won nine of their last 10 games and will look to complete a season sweep against the Beavers (11-16, 4-12) Wednesday night.
Despite its losing record, Oregon State has won three of its last five games and coach Michael Sealy said the Bruins are not going to take the team lightly.
One of those victories came against the University of Arizona, the same team that swept UCLA less than two weeks ago.
Sealy has gone with a combination of redshirt senior Haley Lawless and sophomore Kyra Rogers in the newly available fourth pin hitter spot, but he also mentioned that he’s considering freshman Madeleine Gates – who has played middle blocker this season – for the spot.
Rogers came in for senior outside hitter Jordan Anderson in the second and third sets of UCLA’s match against Oregon State earlier this season, notching four kills in two attempts.
This would not be the first time Sealy moved a natural middle to the pins in her freshman season. He did the same with senior Claire Felix in her freshman campaign. Felix has moved back to the middle, and is currently one of starting the starting middles.
Players who had strong games in UCLA’s matchup with Oregon earlier this season include freshman opposite Torrey Van Winden and Frager. Van Winden led the team with 14 kills and a .444 hitting percentage, and Frager had seven kills and a team-high five blocks.
UCLA enters Wednesday’s match tied for first in the Pac-12 with the University of Washington. The Bruins will play the Huskies one week after they play the Beavers.
“We’re super excited, this is the best we’ve done since I’ve been here,” Frager said. “We’re just trying to take it game by game though, and not look too far ahead because every team is important, not just Washington.”