In its glory days, the UCLA women’s volleyball team could
simply dominate its opposition with hitting and defense.
This year, as the competition has surpassed the Bruins in
hitting ability, UCLA has instead focused on serving in an effort
to throw off the opposing offense.
Led by Duke transfer Nana Meriwether and libero Chrissie
Zartman, UCLA is averaging 1.6 aces per game this year, compared to
a 1.3 average a year ago. Just how good have the Bruins been
serving the ball? They have nearly twice as many aces as their
opposition.
“Having looked at our statistics, we found out that Nana
has served very well for us,” coach Andy Banachowski said.
“Her serving against Arizona (3 aces) was pivotal for our
victory.”
Zartman’s contribution was made possible by a new NCAA
rule this year allowing the libero to serve.
The rule has benefited UCLA (10-3, 3-1 Pac-10), as Zartman is
renowned for her serving ability on the premier beach volleyball
circuit.
Though she has nine service aces on the season, Zartman has
struggled making the transition from the beach to the hard court,
recording a team-high 24 service errors.
“Her serving hitting percentage is not where we would like
it to be,” Banachowski said. “But we are still fully
confident that her serving will help us greatly.”
The service errors have been a recurring theme for the Bruins;
they have committed 111 errors on the season.
But most of them have resulted from a renewed focus on an
aggressive serving style.
The Bruins’ new aggressive style has caused opposing teams
to change their offensive approach by forcing them to set mostly to
their outside hitters.
The plan worked against No. 21 Arizona as UCLA’s service
game forced the Wildcats to become predictable in their offense.
Going to the well on Arizona’s top two hitters over and over
again, the Bruins effectively took the Wildcats’ middle
blockers out of the offense.
“Although both girls hit for a relatively high
percentage,” Banachowski said, “we were still able to
contain the rest of their offense.”
The Bruins now must hope the same approach will work this
weekend as they face No. 14 Stanford and its two outstanding
outside hitters, Ogonna Nnamani and Kristin Richards. Both have
hurt UCLA in the past.
Nnamani is currently ranked No. 11 in the nation in kills with
5.27 per game and was recently a member of the U.S. Olympic Indoor
Volleyball Team.
GREEN HOBBLED: After being held out of practice last Thursday,
Becky Green returned to action Friday against Arizona.
In a limited role, Green recorded three kills and three digs in
the Bruin victory.
“Although she didn’t play much, she had a very
clutch kill that gave us our 28th point in the fourth game,”
Banachowski said.
After returning to action Friday, Green went to warm-up Saturday
and tripped over a serving box, suffering an ankle sprain.
She was unable to recover from the injury and was held out of
the match against Arizona State.
“It was completely a freak injury,” Banachowski
said.
“She returned to practice today (Monday) and she is
completely recovered.”