Being granted the right to host the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament was not wasted on the No. 9 UCLA women’s volleyball team. The Bruins used the advantage well and, in one weekend, shook off most of the jitters and doubts that still clung to a team that faced its first true must-win games.
UCLA (22-10) won its second match in as many nights by sweeping Duke (25-9) in three sets on Saturday night to move on to the NCAA Tournament’s Sweet Sixteen. With the victory, the Bruins advance to take on the national third-seed Texas Longhorns at their home court in Gregory Gymnasium.
Despite some shaky play in Friday night’s first round win over Louisiana State (18-10), UCLA brought a much more efficient attack to Pauley Pavilion against Duke, outscoring it in almost every statistical category to grab set scores of 25-16, 25-19, 25-17.
“We were definitely more comfortable tonight,” coach Andy Banachowski said. “I thought our offense was a lot better. We passed better overall on the night and we got into a much better rhythm. Once we did that a little bit, we played with a lot more confidence and were able to smooth things out.”
Sophomore outside hitter Dicey McGraw led the Bruins with 13 kills and senior setter Nellie Spicer contributed 35 assists against the Blue Devils. But as per usual for this Bruin team, it was their defense that anchored the win. Before the game, UCLA made sure to focus its efforts on Duke’s season kills leader, junior outside hitter Rachael Moss, who averaged 3.50 kills per set during the regular season. Moss was held to a hitting percentage .079 with eight errors.
“We had a good game plan: We were going to load up on her,” Banachowski said of Moss. “She’s obviously their go-to hitter and we were there when they were going to her. We had a big block on her and got her to make a few errors.”
The UCLA offense looked much more organized against Duke than they did in a rather uneven performance against Louisiana State on Friday night. Although the Tigers were heavy underdogs, they kept the Bruins on their heels the entire match, but UCLA would eventually pull together the win, 25-19, 22-25, 25-20, 25-20.
“After last night’s win, we were kind of a little upset with how we came out,” Spicer said. “But we really came out strong tonight (against Duke) which was great for us.”
Friday’s crowd saw Spicer have yet another double-double with 41 assists and 15 digs, while sophomore opposite Emily Clements added some essential offensive play off the bench with nine kills in just two sets without recording an error. After ending the regular season with victories over two ranked teams, No. 23 Pepperdine and No. 11 USC, the Bruins had earned the national No. 14 seed in the NCAA Tournament, which allowed them to play their first two rounds at Pauley Pavilion.
“It’s always nice to be home, and be in our same ritual, eating what we know and doing the same type of things,” Spicer said. “Last night (against LSU) we weren’t ourselves, we weren’t playing UCLA volleyball, and tonight we came and showed our fans what UCLA volleyball’s about.”
UCLA ADVANCES TO THIRD ROUND: With the two weekend wins, UCLA advances to the Austin Regional semifinal against No. 3 Texas next Friday at 4:30 p.m. The Longhorns swept both matches of their own first two rounds and, especially with the home-court advantage, they will certainly be considered the favorite against the Bruins. UCLA does, however, have much experience being on the road, playing in visiting arenas for its first 14 matches of the season.
“We’ve been on the road a lot,” Banachowski said. “I think that it was great for us to be able to be home (this weekend); you know Texas is going to enjoy that same advantage. I think they can have pretty good, loud, obnoxious crowds.
“We’re pretty good at dealing with things like that and being able to shut that out, so it makes for a real exciting match to be in an environment like they have down there.”
After defeating two nonconference opponents in tournament games, the Bruins are feeling confident playing outside the Pac-10, even considering Texas’ high ranking.
“We’re so much better when we’re underdogs,” McGraw said. “When no one expects anything out of us, we’re going to come in and bring it.”