It wasn’t easy, but the Bruins got the win.
No. 20 UCLA women’s volleyball (10-5, 5-3 Pac-12) swept No. 23 Arizona (14-5, 3-4) on Friday night – marking the Bruins’ third sweep in a row.
“The team just wanted it,” said coach Michael Sealy. “They’re connected and clicking right now, so they want to play for each other, so we didn’t have to say anything – they were just ready to go.”
UCLA was in front for the first half of the first set, leading by as much as four at 14-10, 18-14, and 20-16 – but Arizona kept threatening.
The Wildcats came within a point a few times before taking the lead at 22-21, but the Bruins rallied for three points in a row. Tied at 24-24, a kill by senior middle blocker Kyra Rogers followed by an ace by junior setter Kylie Miller sealed the deal, giving UCLA the 26-24 set win.
Neither team led by more than three points in a second set that included 10 ties and three lead changes.
The Wildcats led for the first half of the set until the Bruins took their first lead at 15-14. The score would be tied five more times before the Bruins took the lead for good at 20-19 and took the set 25-22 on another Miller ace.
The Bruins outhit the Wildcats .270 to .245 in the second set. Behind the service line, Arizona recorded six errors and zero aces.
“When teams are making errors all you can do is take advantage,” said senior libero Zana Muno. “It doesn’t happen very often, not a lot of times does a team make that many errors, so when that does happen you don’t take it for granted.”
UCLA scored the first four points of the third set to take an early lead. But with the Bruins up 11-7, Arizona scored six in a row to take the lead.
The Wildcats held this lead until 17-15, but a four-point run by the Bruins gave them the lead again. Despite one more tie at 21-21, UCLA was able to pull out the 25-23 set win, completing the sweep.
“I think this is the most important win of the three sweeps, because we didn’t execute perfectly,” Sealy said. “There were times where Arizona played really well and got us in trouble, and we had to scramble and fight. … The fact that we had to dig deeper in a match that wasn’t so perfect showed me that we were actually as good as I thought we were.”
Sophomore outside hitter Jenny Mosser posted her sixth double-double of the season, recording 11 kills and 10 digs. Sophomore outside hitter Mac May also collected 11 kills and 11 digs for her own double-double, also adding three service aces.
UCLA recorded seven aces to Arizona’s two, with the Wildcats committing 13 service errors. Though the Bruins had 11 service errors of their own, Mosser said this was due to a renewed emphasis on serving hard.
“I just think that we were going for it,” Mosser said. “Before, our coaches got on us for serving too easy, especially against Oregon, so we got to the point where it’s like, it’s OK if you miss long, we want you going for it, we want you firing, and sometimes that is the trade-off.”
UCLA will go back on the road next week with games against No. 18 Washington and No. 21 Washington State.