When the UCLA women’s volleyball team faces Arizona
tonight, they will have a chance to pick up arguably their biggest
victory to this point in the season.
The No. 8 Wildcats are coming off an upset victory over No. 5
Stanford last week, and offer the Bruins a chance to beat a top-10
team after the Bruins failed on their three previous
opportunities.
“Getting a victory against Arizona would really help
us,” Coach Andy Banachowski said.
“It would show the players that all of the hard work
they’ve been doing does pay off and that we are capable of
playing with higher-ranked teams.”
“Winning (tonight) would be a huge boost for our
confidence,” said junior Katie Carter. “It would tell
the rest of the Pac-10 to watch out.”
The Bruins (10-6, 3-4 Pac-10) will get their chance when they
face Arizona (14-2, 6-1) at 7 p.m. The Wildcats, led by senior
outside hitters Kim Glass and Jennifer Abernathy, are 7-2 away from
home this year.
While UCLA has dominated the overall series between the two
teams, going 42-14 all-time, they have not fared so well since the
2000 season.
From 2000 to 2004, the Bruins are only 3-7 against Arizona. UCLA
has lost in six of the last seven meetings.
Despite the fact that the numbers seem to be working against
them, the Bruins feel good about their preparation for the match
and are confident about their chances of winning.
“We’ve been practicing our defense and our block
against their hitters all week,” junior outside hitter Colby
Lyman said. “We’ve been watching a lot of film on them
and we’re well prepared.”
“We pretty much know them like a book right now,”
Carter agreed. “Hopefully it will pay off.”
Until recently, the Bruins have constantly had to make
adjustments with injury problems that were plaguing the team.
But as UCLA prepared for the Wildcats this week, they were able
to consistently utilize the lineup that they plan to play this
weekend.
“It helps having the same team out there (in practice)
that is going to be on the court this weekend,” Banachowski
said.
“That’s something we were able to do more of this
week.
“I feel confident about our chances of pulling off the
upset.”
While Banachowski admits that the team isn’t where he had
previously anticipated it being at this point in the season, he is
still happy with the progress the team has made and how the players
have been competing lately.
“I would like to be a little further along now, but
we’ve been set back by injuries,” Banachowski said.
“I think we have been (competing well with higher-ranked
teams), but not for the duration of a game.
“We’ve had mental and physical breakdowns during the
course of games that as we continue to play and get better, there
will be less of.”
“If we could get the win this weekend, it would show that
we are getting better and are able to perform well throughout an
entire game,” Banachowski said.
After facing Arizona tonight, the Bruins will take on Arizona
State (6-11, 1-6) Saturday night at 7 p.m. in Pauley Pavilion.