In its third five-set match of the season, the UCLA women’s volleyball team defeated not just Oregon State, but also another more subtle, equally difficult opponent: exhaustion.
The No. 19 Bruins (14-5, 5-3 Pac-12) took the first two sets against the unranked Beavers by storm, winning the first 28-26 in overtime and shutting them down 25-14 in the second. It seemed UCLA was only one short set away from a weekend shutout.
And then fatigue set in.
While the Bruins kept up with the Beavers for the first part of the third set, Oregon State (13-6, 3-5) managed to pull away in the second, winning the set 25-19.
“It’s challenging, especially for people who haven’t been playing all the time,” said redshirt sophomore outside hitter Haley Lawless, who earned 15.5 points after recently returning from knee surgery. “As a team, we really feed off each other’s energy, so when one person maybe doesn’t have their best game that day, we make sure and pull them up.”
Hoping to close it out in the fourth set, UCLA once again held the lead early. But after fighting for three sets, exhaustion got the best of the Bruins. Oregon State kept its momentum going, scoring a 10-1 run and closing out the fourth set 25-15.
“It became pretty obvious early in the fourth set that we were running out of gas and weren’t going to win that set,” said coach Michael Sealy.
In an effort to overcome both fatigue and the Beavers, the team called a few substitutions, wrapped the starters’ legs in heated wraps, and switched to a two-setter offense. This way, starters were substituted out and given a break when they reached the back row.
“Without those extra bodies coming in and playing together, we wouldn’t have won this match,” Sealy said.
With fresh players, fresh legs and a new strategy, the Bruins started their fifth and final set ready to turn things around. After maintaining the lead throughout the entire set, the team closed out the night with a 15-10 victory.
“(Senior outside hitter) Karsta (Lowe) definitely stepped up. She had some huge kills for us. (Senior setter) Julie (Consani) was setting incredibly towards the end,” said sophomore middle blocker Jennie Frager, who scored eight kills Friday night, her personal best. “It was definitely a team effort though. We came together mentally. We had the right mindset going into the fifth.”
Now, the Bruins have their first full week off since last month before heading to Stanford to play the first-ranked team in a televised match on Friday.