After senior outside hitter Ali Daley was carried off the court late in the fifth set Saturday night against the No. 7 Oregon Ducks, the No. 9 UCLA Bruins’ drastic need for more even set distribution became evident.
Daley collapsed holding her leg in obvious pain late in the fifth set, bringing silence and looks of fear from the stands. Daley sat out the rest of the match with a cramp in her quadriceps, but is available for practice this week.
After a weekend where she took 104 swings against California and Stanford, Daley had another exhausting night of hitting against the Ducks, taking 56 of the Bruins’ 190 swings.
Daley took 91 swings in the two matches this weekend. With the next most swings coming from sophomore outside hitter Dicey McGraw, who took 66, coach Andy Banachowski will look to increase the set distribution.
“(Daley) has been working so hard and taking a lot of swings,” Banachowski said. “We’ve got to change that distribution a little bit so we can have her at the end of the match.”
Banachowski added Daley’s playing time will not change as a result of the injury.
THE MIDDLE BLOCKERS: As blocking was a major focus of last week’s practice, the Bruins dominated the net against the Ducks despite their narrow loss. Led by two freshman middle blockers, Amanda Gil and Katie Camp, Banachowski praised his team’s blocking against the Ducks but added there is room for improvement.
Led by Gil’s 11 block assists and two solo blocks, the Bruins out-blocked Oregon 16 to 5.
“We put up some pretty good numbers with our blocks this weekend,” Banachowski said. “We’re satisfied with what we are doing. We just want to keep getting better at it.”
Also notable with the Bruins’ middles, Gil saw more time than usual serving and playing in the back row. The libero, senior Jessica Fine, usually serves for Camp, and Banachowski would usually switch out Gil for freshman defensive specialist Lainey Gera on serves. Against the Ducks, however, Gil saw a lot more time in the back row.
Gil recorded one service ace as well as a dig.
“Amanda was able to score quite a few points,” Banachowski said. “We were being pretty effective (with Gil serving), and hopefully we can keep that going.”
AROUND THE PAC-10: Oregon’s junior middle blocker Neticia Enesi took Pac-10 player of the week honors with her career weekend in five-set matches against UCLA and USC.
More than halfway through the season, women’s volleyball in the Pac-10 is beginning to take shape.
After a weekend sweep of No. 5 Washington and Washington State, the Stanford Cardinal impressed coaches nationwide to shoot up to No. 2 in the nation, while taking first place in the conference.
Previously the No. 2 position had been held by the California Golden Bears, who fell in what was then a rankings upset to the Washington Huskies. The Bears fell in the rankings to No. 6 while the Huskies, who have won six of their last seven matches, rose to No. 5.
The Oregon Ducks split five-set road matches this weekend, falling to the USC Trojans but defeating the Bruins. The Ducks fell one spot in the rankings to No. 8.
Also traveling to Los Angeles, the Oregon State Beavers gave the USC Trojans another five-set run. The Beavers, however, fell to the Trojans and were swept by the Bruins.
UCLA’s performance this weekend left them still at No. 9 in the nation, while the Trojans jumped up two spots to No. 10.
Playing only one match each, the Arizona Wildcats and the Arizona State Sun Devils had their final rivalry match of the regular season with the Sun Devils sweeping the Wildcats.
INJURY UPDATE: Senior defensive specialist Jade Machado, who has missed the last three weekends of play due to a left foot fracture, will stay on the sidelines, according to Banachowski.
“I’m not expecting her back for another couple of weeks,” Banachowski said.
Machado fractured her left foot early in the week of Oct. 15. No specific cause was known, but previous reports suggest overuse.