Having already won the first two games and up in the third, the
No. 11 Bruins looked to be on their way to a sweep over local rival
Pepperdine, a team that was just 5-11 on the season.
But not only could UCLA not hold the lead in the third game, the
team simply fell apart, losing the match in five games 30-24,
30-28, 24-30, 31-33 and 11-15.
“It’s extremely frustrating,” UCLA coach Andy
Banachowski said. “Whenever you’re up 2-0, you
definitely want to close it out.”
“I felt we were just tired. Our hits were not there and we
had no momentum.”
The Bruins had a chance to clinch the match up 30-29 in the
fourth game, but a kill by Pepperdine middle blocker Sophia Milo
ended their chances. The Waves never looked back.
The loss was the Bruins’ fourth in their last five matches
to the Waves. But more importantly, the defeat stopped any momentum
UCLA may have gained from its road victories over the Oregon
schools this past weekend.
“I think we’re going to learn from this loss,”
senior Chrissie Zartman said. “But at the same time, we want
to put it behind us.”
The Bruins were missing key players to start the game, as
starting setter Krystal McFarland and Heather Cullen, both seniors,
did not dress for the match.
Cullen was suspended for the match after it was announced Monday
she had violated team rules.
In the seniors’ stead emerged sophomores Tammy Jackson and
Katie Carter to pick up the slack.
The pair started off well, as Carter recorded four service aces
in the first two games, but both sophomores experienced fatigue
down the stretch.
“It was hard for them to play out the match, having not
started before,” Banachowski said.
The biggest sign of UCLA’s fatigue may have come from its
blocking.
At the end of two games, the Bruins had recorded 13 blocks to
the Waves’ eight. By the end of the night, however, the Waves
had finished with 41, whereas the Bruins only had 24.
“They really got our number on the area we were
hitting,” Carter said. “Their block just kept dropping
on the angle we wanted to hit.”
“We just couldn’t figure their defense
out.”
For the Waves, Milo recorded a career-high 12 blocks and was
instrumental in the Waves’ ability to stifle the
Bruins’ offense in the last three games.
UCLA had early success setting to the opposite side as Colby
Lyman recorded nine kills in the first two games.
But the Waves soon caught on to the Bruins’ plan and
forced UCLA to set to the outside.
“They broke our stride midway through the game,”
Banachowski said. “And we had trouble hitting outside the
entire night.”
Banachwoski responded to his team’s struggles by replacing
senior outside hitter Brittany Ringel with sophomore Becky Green,
but the plan only had temporary success.
Green recorded six kills in the fourth game for the Bruins, but
zero in the deciding fifth game.
In a game where it’s necessary to make constant
adjustments, it was the Bruins’ inability to do just that
which inevitably cost them the match.