Kelly Reeves raced towards the end line, as the volleyball sailed over her head. The senior outside hitter slowed up, letting the ball land, believing it to be out of bounds. However, the referee didn’t see it as Reeves saw it, charging Reeves with an attack error, and awarding the point and the set to USC.
In a game where “it takes one (play) at the right time, it takes one play at the wrong time” to decide the winner and loser, according to UCLA women’s volleyball head coach Mike Sealy, the Bruins had too many at the wrong time in their loss Wednesday night.
Just two days after falling to rival USC, UCLA hopes for more plays at the right time as it heads to Boulder, Colo. in a match-up of two teams in search of their first Pac-12 victories of the season.
Colorado (8-2, 0-1 Pac-12), who fell at Utah on Tuesday in five sets, are led offensively by junior outside hitter Taylor Simpson who has posted a team-high 102 kills, including 22 against the Utes. With matches against perennial powerhouse No. 7 Stanford and California looming, UCLA realizes it must rebound quickly from Wednesday’s loss.
“We are definitely go-go-go and trying to get home; that’s just how the Pac-12 season is. It’s pretty quck,” said junior outside hitter Karsta Lowe of the quick turnaround the team is facing. “We (have to avoid) errors … and play our game and I think we’ll be good”.
Today’s match is the first time Colorado will have played at home this month.While UCLA (9-2, 0-1) has yet to make its home debut for the 2013-14 season, the trip to Colorado marks a homecoming of sorts for UCLA freshman middle blocker Claire Felix who hails from Colorado Springs, about 90 minutes south of the University of Colorado. Felix, who will have friends and family in attendance for the match, emphasized the team’s confidence heading into its game against the Buffaloes.
“We played in (Denver) a week and a half ago and we held our own there,” Felix said of the team’s performance at the Denver Invitational earlier this month. “We’re just coming in with the mentality now that we are moving on to our next match and we are going to give it our all.”
Felix said that she felt the team is improving every day, though it is still adjusting to a new system and is playing a number of players that weren’t on the court in Westwood a year ago, such as redshirt freshman outside hitter Haley Lawless and junior setter Monica Stauber who transferred from Hawai’i, is improving every day.
Coach Mike Sealy said that he expects his team to be comfortable by December and while he is pleased with his team’s play in games at times, he stressed the need for more consistent practices out of his team if they hope to reach its potential.
“I talked to the (team) and we have to get better in practice every day,” said Sealy. “I think we do things in games that are fantastic, but I don’t see those things happening in practice very often. If we can’t start doing things day-in day-out situations, then we’re not going to truly be improving”.