For those with questions about the UCLA women’s volleyball team’s 2008 campaign, the time for answers has arrived. Besides a loss to defending champion and top-ranked Pennsylvania State, the No. 4 Bruins have cruised through their nonconference schedule with ease.
However, today’s meeting with rival No. 5 USC marks both their first Pac-10 match and the first real challenge to the team’s high aspirations.
Although UCLA is coming off nine-straight wins, the Women of Troy have won seven in a row themselves and also boast a 29-game winning streak at home in the Galen Center.
In the last few years, the rivalry between the two L.A. schools has not seen either team claim control. The teams split the series last year, each winning on their home courts. Then, in the NCAA Tournament, they were both finished off by the same fierce conference opponent, Stanford.
Although historically both schools have had their turn in the national spotlight, none of the women scheduled to play tonight have a Pac-10 Championship to their name. With the extra intensity that always accompanies the rivalry, this conference opener should give a better glimpse at whether either of the teams is truly ready to vie for that title once again.
Certainly one of the keys for the Bruins will be finding a way to stop USC freshman outside hitter Alex Jupiter. Highly recruited out of high school, Jupiter has already made her impact felt at the college level, ranking third in the conference in both kills per set and points per set.
Back in Westwood, UCLA hopes the solution will come by battling youth against youth. Six-foot-6-inch Bruin freshman Amanda Gil is second in the Pac-10 in blocks per set.
The showdown at the net between Jupiter and Gil will likely be one of the highlights of the match, if not one of the pivotal points of the rivalry for the next few years.