There haven’t been many surprises this year for UCLA women’s volleyball. Since conference play began, every match has ended with the higher-ranked team winning, meaning the Bruins have yet to pull off an upset.
“Yet – hasn’t happened yet,” said coach Michael Sealy. “It will happen at some point.”
This weekend, No. 12 UCLA (13-3, 4-2 Pac-12) will play one team with a higher ranking and one team with a lower ranking, giving the Bruins an opportunity to finally pull off an upset, as they face No. 14 Arizona (13-5, 3-3) on Friday and No. 10 Arizona State (15-2, 4-2) on Sunday.
After practice on Wednesday, the Bruins said they had only started working on targeting Arizona.
“We usually only deal with the other teams the day before we play,” Sealy said. “We’ll look at Arizona tomorrow and we’ll look at Arizona State on Saturday before we play Sunday.”
During the midweek practice, UCLA’s backup players emulated Arizona’s offense against the starting lineup.
Senior libero Karly Drolson said the “smart” Arizona outsides tool a lot. A “tool” is when a hitter attempts to hit the ball off the blocker and onto the ground, resulting in a point for the attacking team. In practice, UCLA’s backup players tried to hit fast and high off the hands of the starters’ blocks so that the Bruins can try to combat the tool in the game.
“We also worked on just serving tough,” Drolson said. “I think we can get them really good if we get them into passing trouble.”
Sealy said he expected Saturday’s practice to be a lighter one. The team will look at video of Friday’s game, as well as video of the Sun Devils, followed by a general walkthrough of ASU’s offense.
This weekend will also mark the Bruins’ return to Pauley Pavilion, where the crowds have been big and loud, but not too effective. UCLA is 1-2 overall at home, with the only win coming in the John Wooden Center. Both USC and Washington handed UCLA losses in straight sets at Pauley Pavilion.
“We’re hoping to finally get a win for the fans that keep coming out,” said redshirt sophomore setter Ryann Chandler. “We’re really prepared and excited. This week in practice we’ve kind of slowed things down. We have a few girls that are taking care of their bodies so we’re not practicing with all full personnel exactly.”
Chandler said that players who have been taking a lot of swings like redshirt sophomore outside hitter Jessyka Ngauamo and junior outside hitter Jordan Anderson took it easier this week.
On Sunday, UCLA will play in the John Wooden Center where it will take on a short-staffed, ASU squad. The Sun Devils’ senior outside hitter Macey Gardner tore her ACL on Oct. 9 in a game against Washington, days after she was named Pac-12 Player of the Week, and will miss the rest of the season.
ASU and UCLA are tied for third place in the Pac-12, but now that the Sun Devils have lost their best player, their season is thrown into flux.
“They lost their All-American, so that’s going to change a lot of things,” Sealy said. “They’ll be a dangerous team because I’m not sure they know exactly what their best lineup is, so we have no idea what they’re going to do.”