After a mostly gloomy season, sunny days may be just ahead for
the UCLA women’s volleyball team ““ if history repeats
itself anyway.
Plagued by injuries for the majority of the year, the team looks
to end its final regular-season home stand on a good note as they
face the two struggling Oregon schools this weekend at Pauley
Pavilion.
“We definitely want to go out with a great
performance,” senior Krystal McFarland said.
A week removed from arguably their best performance of the year
in a five-game loss against USC, the No. 17 Bruins (15-9, 8-6
Pac-10) will try to rebound against two teams of which they have
had a history of success.
The Beavers, led by junior Desma Stovall’s 11.9 assists a
game, come into tonight’s match having dropped the last five
meetings against the Bruins, including a match earlier this year
which UCLA won in five games.
The next night, UCLA will face off against Oregon, which has had
a disastrous season itself due to the loss of senior setter Lauren
Westendorf early in the year.
The Ducks should expect bad news to keep coming its way against
UCLA, as the Bruins have won a whopping 34 straight meetings
between the two.
Saturday night also marks senior night, as all of UCLA’s
departing seniors will be honored prior to the match in what will
be their last regular-season home game.
Although it appears that the Bruins will have no trouble
achieving a pair of victories given their recent track record
against both opponents, the team maintains that it won’t let
its guard down.
“We want to build from last weekend’s
performance,” McFarland said. “So we’re going to
go out there this weekend, play our game and prove we’re the
better team.”
Helping the Bruins’ cause this weekend is the fact that
they’re finally a healthy team again.
“We just have so much energy,” senior Heather Cullen
said. “We finally have had fun out on the court.”
With a huge match looming next week against No. 2 Washington,
having a successful weekend against the Oregon schools remains
imperative for the Bruins.
UCLA, mired in the middle of the Pac-10 standings, needs a
strong finish to its season to guarantee that it will host a
section in the NCAA Tournament.
“We need to get some momentum going into
Washington,” senior Brittany Ringel said.