The end of Tuesday’s practice seemed more like class than collegiate sports training.
During the usual end-of-practice film session with the women’s volleyball team analyzing Oregon’s rotations, the Bruins were laughing and taking copious notes.
It was an attitude of learning.
“Was it John Wooden that said, “˜You learn more from your losses, sometimes, than you do your wins’?” Kaitlin Sather said.
After a backbreaking loss at the hands of No. 4 Washington Saturday, the redshirt senior opposite and her teammates had a team meeting, without the coaches, to reevaluate their season and learn from their mistakes.
“We decided that we wanted to recommit and refocus and look back at the season with no regrets, and this is where we’re at and where we’re going to go,” Sather said.
For sophomore middle blocker Katie Camp, who was dealing with an illness during the last two weeks, the home sweep to Washington that broke No. 7 UCLA’s seven-match winning streak is all behind the Bruins.
“We’re going to forget about it,” Camp said of Saturday’s loss. “You can’t draw on it. What can you do about it? It was unfortunate and we did it to ourselves and I think we’re just going to move forward and learn how to compete like we used to before that match.”
The Bruins were especially weak against the Huskies in their strongest areas.
Before Saturday’s match, the Bruins were the best blocking team in the conference while the Huskies were the second worst. Washington went on to out-block UCLA 10.5 to six.
In addition, Camp and sophomore Amanda Gil, UCLA’s starting middle blockers, hit a mere .233 together tallying just 12 kills and five hitting errors.
On the season, Camp hits .291, averaging .62 errors per set, while Gil hits .357 and averages .53 errors per set.
Coach Andy Banachowski agreed that the Bruins are past their Washington sweep and agreed that learning is the key.
“Losing is frustrating but it teaches you a lot, but I think we’re in a good place where we can learn and move forward and continue,” he said.
Around the Pac-10
With No. 11 California picking up a pair of home wins over the Oregon schools, the Bears are just a half-match behind the Bruins in the conference standings.
Washington split their weekend matches, losing at No. 15 USC Friday and sweeping the Bruins the following night, and remains in first, a half-match ahead the Bruins but tied with No. 6 Stanford.
Stanford moved back into first with a pair of home wins over the Oregon schools as well.
The drop-off after the Huskies, Cardinal, Bruins and Bears is significant as No. 19 Arizona is two and a half matches behind the Bears while No. 18 Oregon and USC are tied at sixth place.
Washington State (eighth), Arizona State (ninth) and Oregon State (10th) round out the bottom of the conference.