Women’s volleyball keeps momentum, focus in win against USC
By Stephanie Lowe
Oct. 10, 2009 5:18 p.m.
Friday night, with 3,180 fans in attendance at Pauley Pavilion, the 16th-ranked UCLA women’s volleyball team (13-5, 3-2 Pac-10) swept the cross-town rival and No. 13 USC Trojans (13-4, 2-3) 27-25, 25-20, 25-22.
It did not take long for the Bruins to get their momentum going to start the match. UCLA went up 4-1 thanks in part to kills from freshman outside hitter Bojana Todorovic and junior outside hitter Dicey McGraw.
As the Trojans started to show signs of fatigue, USC was forced to call its first timeout with the score at 11-6. Coming back onto the court, USC scored six straight points to take the lead 11-12. The teams went back and forth exchanging the lead until the very end of the first game.
With USC at game point, 22-24, the Bruins scored two points in a row after USC’s sophomore outside hitter Alex Jupiter foot-faulted on her serve and UCLA senior outside hitter Kaitlin Sather scored a kill. The Bruins finally put the first game away at 27-25 after Sather tallied another kill off of an unusual assist from sophomore middle blocker Katie Camp. For the tight-game situation, Sather attributed the high-score win in the first game to the Bruins’ ability to maintain their focus.
“We have all of the talent in the world, it’s just a matter of putting it into focus,” Sather said.
UCLA kept its focus going into the second game as the Bruins led for most of the set. Moving into the third game, UCLA fell behind at 8-11 and did not hold the lead until later.
Sather made a big difference in obtaining that lead. After the Bruins found themselves down 15-16, she catapulted four kills in the final 10 points to win the match for the Bruins.
“I thought we were getting a little tired because they were playing so hard,” coach Andy Banachowski said. “But we came up with a reserve at the end of that third game.”
UCLA effectively contained the Trojans’ outside hitters, Jupiter and senior Jessica Gysin. By focusing on blocking during practice, the Bruins were successful at taking away USC’s favorite shots.
“We were working our butts off all week in practice,” Gil said. “We were putting in the time and effort to make ourselves better.”
After the match, UCLA gave much credit to the full crowd for its role in the win. The team encouraged fans to come out to the game and was happy with the outcome.
“This was our best crowd that we have had for years and years,” Banachowski said. “We were taken aback. My heart was pumping faster than it has ever pumped at a match here. It was a great atmosphere, and our fans certainly helped us at a lot of times.”
Sather finished with a game-high 15 kills and also contributed 15 digs. Freshman setter Lauren Cook reported 47 assists and 10 digs. The victory over USC puts UCLA in third place in the Pac-10 conference.
