Serving and passing.
These were the two words echoed by the UCLA women’s
volleyball team all last week when asked how they would defeat USC,
a team that had defeated them seven consecutive times.
But during the actual match on Friday, the team’s plan
fell apart and the Bruins fell to their archrival, 30-25, 30-26,
30-22 in front of a raucous standing-room only crowd of 1,374 at
the Lyon Center.
“It simply came down to execution,” UCLA coach Andy
Banachowski said.
“We couldn’t pass or serve the ball with any
consistency.”
The troubles for the 11th-ranked Bruins hampered them from the
start as the Trojan crowd began feeding off the Bruin miscues.
“I think we may have had a little lack of focus,”
senior outside hitter Brynn Murphy said. “After falling
behind early, the crowd really got into the match.”
For the majority of the game the Bruins trailed early, falling
behind 5-2 in the first game and dropping the first five points of
the second and third games. Every time the Bruins (11-5, 4-3
Pac-10) came close to tying the score, the No. 6 Trojans (10-3,
5-2) would go on a run that would put the game out of reach.
The Bruins were as close as 21-19 in the first game, but the
Trojans captured the next five points. It was the same story
throughout the match, as the Bruins got within one point at 22-21
in the second game and 15-14 in the third. However, they could
never seem to get over the hump.
“We would have needed to make very important plays to win
those games,” Banachowski said. “But when you’re
not passing the ball, you don’t give yourself a chance to win
the game.”
The Bruins’ passes were continually off the net and the
offense suffered, finishing with a low .176 hitting percentage.
The only Bruin hitters to reach double-figures in kills were
senior Brittany Ringel and sophomore Colby Lyman, and the team
combined for 21 hitting errors.
The Bruin’s leading hitter, Murphy, was largely held in
check by the Trojans. She was given only 15 attempts, the same
amount as setter Krystal McFarland.
“We knew that USC was going to key on Brynn, so we tried
to use her as a decoy,” McFarland said. “The plan
worked originally, but eventually their defense caught
on.”
USC’s top two hitters, Staci Venski and Emily Adams,
meanwhile, combined for 29 kills and recorded a .428 hitting
percentage.
They were able to continuously exploit UCLA’s weak
cross-court defense, as the Bruins’ middle blockers failed to
get up in time for blocks.
“We had expected them to hit the ball cross-court,”
Banachowski said.
“We had practiced it all week and yet we were still not
able to stop them.”
Toward the end of the third game, Banachowski made some
substitutions by installing liberos Laura Kroneberger and Jessica
Fine, but neither had any effect on the Bruins’ lackluster
offense.
The Bruins simply succumbed to a more organized USC team that
now claims eight consecutive victories in the rivalry matchup.
And unless UCLA makes improvements in time for next
month’s rematch at Pauley Pavilion, it will become nine.