With one of the nation’s most potent offenses facing a crippling defense, tonight’s women’s volleyball match in Pauley Pavilion figures to be a face-off of two opposite teams.
No. 13 UCLA and its dominant defense host No. 12 Oregon, the league’s best serving team, with both teams fighting for third-place in the Pac-10. The Bruins will also host Oregon State (11-8, 2-5) Saturday night.
“For us to be able to beat Oregon, we’ve got to be able to slow down their offense and not let them put up the great offense numbers that they’ve been putting,” UCLA coach Andy Banachowski said.
Despite having identical conference records, UCLA (14-6, 4-3) is almost the opposite of Oregon (14-3, 4-3), at least statistically speaking. A look at the numbers shows the near-perfect match-up of UCLA’s defense with Oregon’s offense.
The Ducks have the second best hitting average in the conference, .296, while the Bruins have the second best opponent’s hitting average, .165.
Oregon is second in kills per set, 14.54, while the Bruins have the conference’s best digging with 16.07 digs per set.
The Bruins are also third in blocks per set, 2.75, while Oregon is fifth, 2.55.
Freshman outside hitter Bojana Todorovic explained that the Bruins will play to their strengths.
“We’re working on both our blocking and our defense so we can handle their offense, and working on just attacking right back at them,” she said.
UCLA’s primary focus will be on Oregon outside hitter Sonja Newcombe, the reigning Pac-10 player of the week and currently the fifth-best scorer in the conference, averaging 4.63 points per set.
“Their outside (hitter) Newcombe and their middle (blocker Neticia) Enesi have been just having blockbuster seasons, so we’ll have to slow them down,” Banachowski said.
Enesi is second in the conference with a .475 hitting average and sixth with 1.12 blocks per set.
Banachowski added that Oregon’s balanced attack will present additional defensive challenges.
“They (Oregon) distribute the ball pretty well to everybody, and there are certain situations that we just have to get really familiar with them,” he said.
For freshman outside hitter Mari Hole, tonight’s match is all about team preparation.
“We need to know what we are going to do and be ready as a team, not just as individuals,” she said, “and I think we are.”
Hole and the Bruins are prepared, however, for Oregon’s potent attack.
“We know it’s going to be balls all over the court, we just have to be ready to play,” Hole said.
Though an unranked Oregon State team may seem like easy pickings for the Bruins after facing a ranked team in Oregon, Banachowski maintained the Beavers will present a significant challenge for his young team, citing their five-set upset of Oregon on Oct. 2.
In addition, the Beavers took a set from Stanford on the road last weekend.
“Both of the Oregon schools are playing extremely well,” he said.
Friday’s game on TV
The Oregon match will be on tape delay and will be broadcast Sunday at 2 p.m. on FSN West.