Things didn’t quite go the Bruins’ way on Friday at Pauley Pavilion. By Sunday, neither did news of the seeding arrangements for the upcoming NCAA Tournament.
The UCLA women’s volleyball team will open up the first two rounds of postseason play in Austin, Texas, starting with a match against American University (29-2) this Friday.
For the first time since 2002, the Bruins (21-8, 11-7 Pac-10) did not receive one of the tournament’s 16 national seeds, despite being ranked ninth in the latest AVCA Top 25 poll. And undoubtedly, the season finale loss certainly didn’t help the Bruins’ case.
UCLA knew that a bigger, stronger and higher-ranked USC team would be across the net on Friday at Pauley Pavilion, but fell short of an upset, losing 3-2.
Despite the disappointment, coach Mike Sealy was encouraged after his team’s five-set loss to the national powerhouse.
“For me, (the match) just proved that we can play with anybody on any given night,” Sealy said.
USC built a 15-11 lead in the first set, but UCLA chipped away, scoring five straight points to go up 16-15. USC (25-4, 14-4) went up again at 18-17, but never led again as the Bruins scored eight of the last 10 set points.
With the set tied at 11, USC went up two in the fifth after back-to-back blocks. After senior outside hitter Dicey McGraw hit a kill to put UCLA within one at 14-13, a kill by USC junior middle blocker Lauren Williams gave the Women of Troy the set and the match.
UCLA effectively handled USC’s size, but couldn’t set up a smooth offense.
“I thought we served tough, kept them out of system, and did what we could,” Sealy said. “If we had had better transition offense, I think it would have been a different night and we could have won this match.”
USC’s 18-7 win in the blocking battle was no surprise, but Sealy said his hitters did not approach attacks quickly enough at times, giving the Women of Troy ample time to set up their blocks.
A couple of more kills or a few less blocked balls, and the final result may have been a different one.
“Everybody kind of did their job so we could manipulate the game to go our way; it’s just one or two points here and there, and you never know,” sophomore outside hitter Bojana Todorovic said.
McGraw added 19 kills, and UCLA hit .225 for the match, while USC hit .236.
“I would do anything to take that (fifth set) back but we fought hard, we fought really hard,” McGraw said. “I’m proud of my team, I’m proud of these girls, it’s been a long season, and we’re definitely ready to kick some butt in NCAA’s.”