When the UCLA women’s volleyball team takes on Kansas in
the first round of the NCAA Tournament tonight, it will be a
match-up of two teams going in totally opposite directions.
The Bruins (18-10, 10-8 Pac-10) finished their season by winning
seven of their last nine matches including an emotional victory
over No. 3 Washington and a win over No. 16 California to end the
season.
The Bruins’ strong finish earned them the opportunity to
host first and second round tournament matches and gave them the
16th overall seed in the field of 64.
“I’m pretty pleased with the fact that we are going
to be able to host and play on our home court,” coach Andy
Banachowski said.
On the other hand, Kansas (15-14, 7-13 Big XII), who will be
making its third consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance, is feeling
fortunate just to be invited to the tournament after suffering a
late-season collapse. Injury problems and inconsistent play
contributed to the Jayhawks’ 3-11 record in the team’s
last 14 matches; Kansas dropped its last three matches of the
season including a thrashing at the hands of an Iowa State team
that did not make the NCAA Tournament.
“I’m sure the committee looked at all 29 matches and
within those matches, we played 15 top-50 teams, six top-10 teams,
and we beat five teams that are in the tournament,” Kansas
coach Ray Bechard said. “We didn’t finish quite like
we’d hoped, but over the 29-match season, we really felt like
we did enough work to deserve to be in.”
The Jayhawks are led by senior middle blocker Josi Lima. Lima
leads the Jayhawks in blocks (84) and kills (245) this season and
was named First Team All-Big XII for the fourth consecutive
year.
“It feels great to come here to Los Angeles,” Lima
said. “To get a chance to come to the tournament one more
time as a senior for me and to have my teammates that are freshmen
that haven’t been to the tournament yet, it’s a great
feeling.”
For Kansas, the opportunity for their three star seniors to play
in the tournament is something to be treasured. Each of the
seniors, Lima, setter Andi Rozum, and outside hitter Paula Caten,
have been key parts of the turnaround that the Jayhawk program has
made during their careers.
“When they were sophomores, Kansas had never been to the
NCAA Tournament,” Bechard said. “Three straight years
in a row in the tournament for our three seniors shows how much
they’ve meant to our program and I’m really excited for
them and their opportunity.”
For UCLA, the biggest challenge in its first-round match is not
overlooking a Kansas team that has been rejuvenated by its
selection to the tournament.
“I don’t like to look past anyone,” freshman
outside hitter Kaitlin Sather said. “We’re going to try
to take it one game at a time and see where that takes us. Every
game is going to be a good game.”