If the 24-dig, 19-kill performance was any indication, junior pin hitter Reily Buechler didn’t want to go out in the third round for her third straight year.
“You get to the Sweet 16 and you’re like, ‘Yes, finally, we made it to the Sweet 16. If we lose here, it’s okay,'” Buechler said. “This is the year that was out of the question. We had to win.”
No.10-seed UCLA women’s volleyball took down No. 7-seed North Carolina on Friday in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in the round of 16 of the NCAA Tournament. The Bruins will advance to the round of 8 for the first time since their 2011 championship run.
“It definitely felt like we were in that Sweet 16 rut over the past two years,” said senior middle blocker Claire Felix. “But I know the senior class was not going to walk off the court without a win, and we did not want it to be our last day on the court together and with this team.”
UCLA finished the match in the fourth set, scoring on its fourth match-point opportunity. North Carolina tied the set up at 22, but the Bruins were able to stay tied with or one point ahead of the Tar Heels before finally winning 28-26.
North Carolina only took the first set, in which it first took the lead at 23-22 before scoring two more points to steal the set.
UCLA recorded 21 kills compared to North Carolina’s 13, but the Bruins made eight hitting errors while the Tar Heels went errorless. UCLA also failed to tally a single block compared to North Carolina’s five.
Neither team led by more than three in the second set.
Sophomore defensive specialist Zana Muno only played one point, coming in for senior pin hitter Jordan Anderson with a 24-22 lead. Muno’s serve rolled over the top of the net for an ace that gave the Bruins the 25-22 win.
Buechler recorded ten kills through the first two sets alone.
“She did a great job of getting on the ball fast and attacking,” said coach Michael Sealy. “She took great rips when the situation called for that. She did a good job keeping balls in play when the situation called for that. It was a very mature night for her.”
UCLA started the third set on a 5-0 run and then pushed its way to a 17-10 lead. North Carolina then won four consecutive points and eventually tied the score at 23 after three straight kills.
An ace by freshman setter Kylie Miller gave UCLA set three 25-23. Anderson and senior middle blockers Jennie Frager and Claire Felix each had four kills in the set, second to Buechler’s five.
Felix led the charge in the fourth set with five kills on nine swings. She finished the match with 15 kills and a .481 hitting percentage.
Sealy called a timeout when the teams were tied at 20, and two kills by Anderson gave the Bruins a two-point advantage coming out of the timeout.
North Carolina again tied the score four more times until UCLA took the set on the fourth match point, 28-26.
The Bruins advance to the regional final Saturday against No. 2 Minnesota at 7 p.m. Both Felix and Buechler said that the Golden Gophers’ home-crowd advantage will create a more difficult environment than the neutral crowd did Friday.
“They have been playing together for a very long time and they run a very clean offense,” Buechler said. “We’re going to have to serve really tough, we’re going to have to play really good defense and just keep balls in and stay consistent because they’re going to play a very consistent game.”