The women’s volleyball team has played two matches against top-five opponents this year. Both times, No. 12 UCLA has been dominated, falling in straight sets against then-No. 3 USC and then-No. 5 Washington.
Is Bruin coach Michael Sealy worried?
“What’s there to worry about?” Sealy said this past weekend. “There’s real problems in the world, and anything that happens in Division I athletics isn’t one of them. We’re going to be as good as we can be and win the games we can win.”
That said, Sealy knows his team must improve if it intends to compete with top-tier teams. They must refine the offensive system, which generated insufficient hitting percentages of just .056 against USC and .070 against Washington.
It’s understandable that the Bruins are still adjusting to life without Karsta Lowe, the first-team All-American outside hitter who contributed 38.5 percent of the team’s kills last year before graduating.
Junior outside hitter Jordan Anderson, a transfer from West Virginia, has helped fill the hole left by Lowe, scoring 34.3 percent of UCLA’s kills this season. Anderson impressed against Big-12 opponents while at West Virginia and against the Bruins’ preseason opponents, but she’ll have to adjust to the level of Pac-12 volleyball.
As Pac-12 women’s volleyball broadcaster Josh Grau said in an interview with Daily Bruin Sports, Anderson needs to expand her range against the conference’s top-notch blockers; rather than simply loading up and swinging hard, she must build in some more finesse and maturity into her game.
It’s something Sealy has honed in on with the 6-foot outside hitter.
“We’re trying to teach her, the next evolution is going to be more of a finesse game,” Sealy said. “Because she’s so powerful, she’s got people sitting back on their heels looking for the fastball. If she can start throwing in a couple changeups here and there and a tip here and there, she’s going to really mess with block defense.”
Grau said UCLA should benefit from a more even distribution of offense. But just as the team stumbled last year when Lowe performed poorly, the Bruins have had trouble when Anderson has off nights.
Against the imposing blockers of USC and Washington, Anderson’s hitting percentages were just .077 and .089, respectively, far below her season average of .251. In both cases, Anderson’s struggles dragged down the whole team’s offense and the Bruins slumped to straight-set losses.
When Anderson is hitting well, she pumps energy into the rest of the team, according to Sealy.
“She definitely generates a pulse for the team,” Sealy said. “When she’s going off and she’s hitting a ton of balls, she brings excitement and everyone starts mimicking and matching what she’s doing.”
That pulse is great when it’s there, but the Bruins will have to find an answer for those nights when it isn’t.
Compiled by Matt Cummings, Bruin Sports senior staff.