Coming off of its biggest win of the season against a previously
undefeated Washington team, the UCLA women’s volleyball team
has reason to be confident.
Nonetheless, the Bruins know they cannot get too confident and
must retain their focus when they travel to the desert to take on
Arizona State (7-17, 2-12 Pac-10) and No. 6 Arizona (18-5, 10-4)
this weekend.
“We have to remember that (beating Washington) is not the
end of the season,” junior middle blocker Nana Meriwether
said. “We still have four more games until the tournament
starts.
“We need to push it in practice and not be too confident
going against the teams that are coming up.”
Coach Andy Banachowski is also looking ahead.
“I think that (the Washington game) will make us tougher
and make us a better team through the rest of the year,” he
said. Banachowski will be shooting for career wins No. 1,001 and
1,002 this weekend.
The Bruins are expected to beat a struggling Arizona State team
that they beat earlier this year and have beaten six times in a row
over the last three seasons.
The Arizona State Sun Devils have dropped 12 of their last 13
matches and have not won a single game in their last four matches.
UCLA defeated Arizona State 3-1 (30-23, 33-31, 17-30, 30-23) last
month.
Kaitlin Sather had 21 kills in that match with the Sun Devils,
while Nana Meriwether hit .500 and had three blocks.
While it would likely take a letdown performance for the Bruins
to lose to Arizona State, the challenge of facing the Arizona
Wildcats will be a big test to see whether the Bruins’
victory against Washington was an indication that this Bruin team
has truly turned the corner.
After dropping a match to No. 13 California on Friday, Arizona
rebounded to defeat No. 4 Stanford in five games at Palo Alto. It
was the second time this season that Arizona has beaten the
Cardinal, whose only other losses this year have come to No. 3
Washington and No. 1 Nebraska.
In their match against UCLA at Pauley Pavilion last month, the
Wildcats beat the Bruins with a score of 3-1 (27-30, 30-16, 30-23,
30-28). The Bruins as a team hit just .113 in that match, and
Arizona senior outside hitter Kim Glass had 23 kills.
Still, the Bruins insist they are a different team now than they
were a month ago.
“Our team is so much closer emotionally,” junior
outside hitter Katie Carter said. “We are sisters out there.
Everyone is so confident. Every single person knows her job. Every
single person takes responsibility and holds herself
accountable.”
“I think that’s the bottom line,” she said.
“We’ve matured so much as a team.”
With reports from Michael Wozny, Bruin Sports
reporter.