Focus is key for women’s volleyball during tough stretch of games
By Anay Dattawadkar
Oct. 31, 2013 1:23 a.m.
It has been a common theme for the UCLA women’s volleyball team this year – start strong, hang with teams, then fade in the final few points, giving away winnable sets. Those giveaways have too often turned into losses, which have made the taste of disappointment a common one for the Bruins.
“Our losses have been due to a lack of consistent focus, and I think that after (last Friday’s loss to Washington), it was the same thing again,” said junior setter Megan Moenoa. “We’re losing focus for bunches of points and losing games because of that.”
Focus – it is a word that is thrown around so often in the sporting world that it has become a veritable umbrella term. For the Bruins, however, the word’s meaning is clear: remaining grounded, through success or adversity.
Early in the year, the Bruins often fell apart after dropping point, their lost confidence crippling them. One or two bad points often spelled the end of a set, as the team would shut down, making mistakes and giving away free points.
Coach Mike Sealy has asserted throughout the year that remaining focused throughout matches is the key to success, that the team’s continued mental fortitude is crucial to turning things around for the Bruins. And he feels that at this point in the season, the team has finally realized this goal .
“We’ve had enough disappointments over the course of the last month to where we’re not shell-shocked anymore,” he said, “I think our focus is better, we’re kind of cognizant of the task at hand, and we’re improving. We’re more sure now as compared to where we were six weeks ago.”
In practice this week, the team has been running a drill designed to improve its attention late in games, an area where they have especially flagged in their losses. In the drill, the team simulates a match, starting from an 18-18 score and going until one side reaches 25, just like in a real match.
According to junior middle blocker Zoe Nightingale, the key to this drill is maintaining the same level of emotion after every point, whether it is a successful one or not.
“Our key word is ‘reset,’ so after every point we have to reset, realize it’s a new point and refocus ourselves,” she said.
Team members feel that this emphasis on the final seven points of matches will really help the team in the future, as it embarks on a brutal stretch of its schedule.
