While the week started off on a low note for the UCLA women’s volleyball team, a record-breaking performance on Sunday led the No. 18 Bruins (18-9, 9-7 Pac-12) to a three-set sweep of unranked California (9-17, 1-15) and finished off their weekend right.
After two 3-0 losses in one week, the Bruins needed a decisive victory in order to maintain their place in the rankings and keep their momentum up as they head into the last two weeks of the regular season.
“Cal has had a rough season, and we knew they were going to come out fighting to win,” said senior setter Megan Moenoa. “I knew we had to keep our foot on the pedal.”
Double-digit kills from freshman outside hitter Reily Buechler and senior outside hitter Karsta Lowe helped UCLA clinch the first two sets and run away with the third (25-21, 25-23, 25-15), but it was sophomore middle blocker/outside hitter Claire Felix who stole the show.
Felix, for the first time in Bruin history, achieved 12 kills with zero errors in 12 attempts. This makes Felix the first player in UCLA history to hit a perfect 1.000 match with a minimum of 10 attempts.
“It feels amazing. I’m really excited,” Felix said. “I honestly wasn’t even paying attention to it. The win was amazing too. It was such a great team win – it was spread out across the board.”
Felix’s perfect percentage and Buechler’s .611 percentage brought the team’s overall hitting percentage to .419, which ties for the second-highest percentage that the team has seen all season. While Cal’s percentage was considerably lower at .303, the Golden Bears stayed right on top of the Bruins for the first two sets. The third set started off with a Cal point, but after a 5-1 run and several of the game’s longest rallies, the Bruins ran away with the third match, outhitting the Golden Bears .542 to .207.
The team has a five-day break before it hits the road to travel to No. 10 Oregon. After Oregon, UCLA will play two more games on the road before heading home to play its first and last match of the season at Pauley Pavilion.
“There are (two) weeks left to keep improving and getting better,” said coach Michael Sealy. “Everyone’s got some individual stuff they’re working on – as a team, just trying to play cohesive and come together and play together.”