This post was updated Dec. 2 at 11:21 p.m.
The Bruins didn’t have their best start, but they didn’t need to.
No. 10 seed UCLA women’s volleyball dropped set one before winning three straight against Murray State to advance to round two of the NCAA Tournament on Friday at Pauley Pavilion.
“Murray State has the luxury of coming in with nothing to lose and everything to gain. There’s nothing for us to gain in that match,” said coach Michael Sealy. “I thought our girls did a good job of weathering the storm and settling in.”
The Racers’ regular season hitting percentage sat at just .206, but Murray State hit .357 to beat the Bruins 25-21 in set one set. Racer outside hitter Scottie Ingram went an errorless seven for thirteen.
Entering the match, the Bruins were only 6-4 in first sets against nonconference teams, despite winning nine of those 10 games.
Senior pin hitter Jordan Anderson started off set two with a pair of consecutive kills, sending UCLA on a 9-2 run to begin the set. The Racers battled back and tied the set at 17 on a deep overpass that made its way over the heads of UCLA’s back line and onto the court.
Murray State would score just one more point in set two to drop the set 25-18, and UCLA evened the match at a game apiece.
The Bruins dominated set three behind nine kills and no errors from junior pin hitter Reily Buechler. Buechler tallied 21 kills on 51 swings on the night with just two errors, good for a .373 hitting percentage. UCLA took the set 25-15.
“There was a lot of out of system play, and the outsides get a lot of out of system balls,” Buechler said. “We were playing some really good defense, so it was just chucking it up there and seeing what I could do with it.”
Senior middle blocker Claire Felix led the charge in the Bruins’ 25-9 set four win with five kills on six swings. Sealy rested his other starting middle blocker – senior Jennie Frager – in favor of freshman Madeleine Gates late in set four.
“Jennie did a good job hanging in there and blocking some balls, but offensively she wasn’t really clicking,” Sealy said. “So just giving Madeleine a few snaps to make sure that if we do need to put her in over the course of the next two weeks and she’s ready to go.”
Sealy also got the chance to put in sophomore Kyra Rogers for redshirt senior Haley Lawless at the team’s fourth pin hitter position. Sealy said after the game that he doesn’t have a starter for that position and that Rogers’ offense can put more stress on the opponent, while Lawless imposes a bigger block.
UCLA will face Baylor on Saturday in the second round of the NCAA Tournament at 7:00 p.m. in Pauley Pavilion.
“There’s no more easy matches,” Sealy said. “They’re fast, they dig a lot of balls, so it’s almost like a pumped-up version of Murray State, in the sense that they’ve got a hitter they’re not afraid to get to at all times.”