The injuries and inexperience that are currently plaguing the
No. 17 UCLA women’s volleyball team showed heavily in the
team’s 3-1 loss to No. 19 USC on Friday night. Sophomore
middle blocker Meghan Schoen and junior outside hitter Colby Lyman
both had injuries that forced them out of the match against the
Trojans. As a result, five of the seven starters for the Bruins
were freshmen, and out of the seven players that played in all four
games, only one, Nana Meriwether, was not a freshman. “Not
being able to have a full squad out there really hurt us,”
UCLA coach Andy Banachowski said. “We lose a junior and a
sophomore experience-wise, and Colby Lyman is one of our best ball
handlers. All that shows up in a match like this. It would have
helped us a lot tonight to have had those players.” Among the
difficulties the young Bruin lineup had in Friday’s match was
their inability to pass and set up easier kills. The combination of
poor passing and mental mistakes were big reasons for the
Bruins’ dismal .156 attacking percentage.
“Specifically, our passing, digging on defense and getting
deflections off the block are things we need to work on,”
Meriwether said. “I feel like we’re just standing there
and jumping up. We need to be more aggressive.” But perhaps
the biggest issue that the young Bruins are dealing with is an
inability to properly communicate and work out situations on the
court. “We’re a very quiet team,” Meriwether
said. “I feel like our inexperience is causing us not to
talk.” Despite all that went wrong in the match, there were
some positives that night as well. Banachowski was impressed by the
Bruins’ “inspired” first game (which they won
30-27) and said he hoped to have Lyman back for the matches against
Oregon and Oregon State this weekend. “With each match we
play, we’re going to grow as a team and tonight was just
another step,” Meriwether said. But it was hard for
Meriwether to hide her disappointment. “It’s really,
really frustrating (not to be able to beat USC),” she said.
“We had a good chance to step up tonight and change our
reputation, but unfortunately, we didn’t do it.”
IMPRESSIVE TURNOUT: 2,777 screaming fans showed up to Pauley
Pavilion in what is comparatively a very high turnout for UCLA
women’s volleyball matches. Among those in attendance were a
good portion of the UCLA women’s basketball team, men’s
volleyball team, men’s and women’s water polo teams and
men’s basketball team. The UCLA marching band and the UCLA
Spirit Squad also made a rare appearance at a volleyball game.
Members of the men’s volleyball team were dressed in
extremely vibrant attire, trying to distract the Trojans during the
match. “This is ‘SC,” said senior men’s
volleyball player Damien Scott, who came wearing only a Speedo and
tie. “We gotta make sure they lose.” Despite the
Bruins’ loss, the atmosphere the fans provided did not go
unnoticed by Banachowski. “The fans were great
tonight,” he said. “It was a lot of fun to play in this
type of atmosphere.”