For the first time in over a month, No. 12 seed UCLA women’s volleyball team swept two teams in the same week, scoring 3-0 against both LIU Brooklyn and Long Beach State at home.
It just so happens the Bruins were able to pull off the double-sweep when they needed it most – their first second-round victory in NCAA championship regionals since 2011.
The Bruins’ competitors were both undefeated in their respective conferences during the regular season, overshadowing UCLA’s 11-9 conference record. But with 10 teams from the Pac-12 making it into the second round of the NCAA tournament, the team said its tough conference matches during the season only better prepared it to enter the national competition.
“It’s the legitimacy of the conference,” said coach Michael Sealy. “It’s always great to see the conference do well especially after an unprecedented 10 teams were in.”
In their first round of the tournament, the Bruins won 25-23, 25-19 and 25-18 against LIU Brooklyn, making this the second time in three years the Bruins have swept the Blackbirds in the first round. The Bruins led the entirety of the first set and a majority of the second, but ran point for point in the third. When the Bruins found themselves losing 15-11 in the third set, they went on a 14-3 run, sparked by a kill from senior middle blocker Zoë Nightingale and ended with a kill from sophomore middle blocker/outside hitter Claire Felix.
The next night started very similarly to how the previous one ended, with the UCLA playing point for point against Long Beach State University. After a tie at 24-24, kills from senior outside hitter Karsta Lowe and Felix ended the first set 27-25.
The next two sets breezed by for the Bruins. With a 10 point lead by UCLA in the second set and zero lead changes in the third, UCLA closed out the remaining two sets 25-15 and 25-14.
“It was a lot of fun,” Lowe said, who posted a match-high 24 kills in the second round. “The team made it easy to lead. Everyone was blasting in all sections. Everything was on point, everyone was doing their job.”
Looking forward, the Bruins will have five days to rest before traveling to Louisville, Ky. for their Sweet 16 matchup against No. 5 Penn State.
“We had a tough first two rounds,” Felix said. “We walk into every night with the same mentality, that each game is our national championship game. We’re playing for these two right here (Lowe and Julie Consani), and our other two seniors, every time.”