Heading into its last two games of conference play, UCLA women’s volleyball is in danger of finishing its Pac-12 schedule at .500.
The Bruins’ record (17-10, 10-8 Pac-12) looks pedestrian in comparison to last year, in which they won 27 total games and finished 15-5 in the Pac-12.
However, the Bruins are ranked No. 19 in the country and have the talent to make a deep run in the upcoming NCAA Tournament. The Bruins brought in the third-best recruiting class in the country, according to volleyballmag.com, and are among the top 60 out of 329 teams in the country in assists per set, kills per set and digs per set.
UCLA is merely a victim of a Pac-12 conference within which all teams show strong parity and several high rankings.
“Take Stanford out of the equation, every other team in the league beats every other team,” said coach Michael Sealy.
The Pac-12 has six teams ranked in the top 25 – the most of any conference – with two more on the fringe of being ranked.
“You can’t worry about schedules in the Pac-12. Everybody is just too good,” Sealy said. “Even if a team doesn’t have a lot of wins in their path, they’re physical enough to be really dangerous.”
The Pac-12 has been one of the strongest conferences in the nation for a while, and has won 15 national championships since the NCAA added women’s volleyball as a sport in 1981. The Pac-12 featured eight teams in last year’s NCAA Tournament, and UCLA, Stanford and Washington all made it to the quarterfinals.
“The Pac-12 has been like that ever since it was the Pac-10. It’s just too many good kids in the conference, too many good coaches, too many good teams,” Sealy said.
The Bruins are coming off a narrow five-set loss to No. 4 Stanford, a team that has lost only once in conference play, to No. 12 Washington (22-7,12-6). Stanford is the 2016 NCAA champion and recently clinched the Pac-12 championship with its win over USC on Thursday.
UCLA has lost to Stanford twice, Washington twice, Utah twice and USC once, and has split with Washington State. While Stanford has been dominant throughout league play, the other teams that have handed the Bruins a loss have lost at least five conference games.
“Anything can happen in the Pac-12. You can’t take any team lightly,” said freshman outside hitter Jenny Mosser. “You have to be ready for anything and you can’t come out just expecting a win. You always have to come out and play your hardest.”
The Bruins will need to place in the top 16 in the AVCA Division I Coaches Top 25 Poll in order to host the first two rounds of the tournament. They are currently on the cusp of doing so, but they will likely have to win at least one, if not both, of their upcoming games against USC and Oregon State.
In a loaded Pac-12 conference, both games could easily see either team come out on top.
UCLA hasn’t played Oregon State (21-9, 11-7) yet, but the Beavers beat Washington twice this season.
No. 13 USC (21-8, 13-5) swept Washington and beat Utah twice. But it was swept by Arizona – a team with just four conference wins – and Colorado in their first matchups, and took five sets to beat them both in their second.
“Everyone in the Pac-12 is an amazing team, and you never know what’s going to happen,” said junior middle blocker Kyra Rogers.