Women’s volleyball hopes recent growth leads to rebound

For the members of the UCLA women’s volleyball team, this season is still a work in progress.

As it enters its 13th and 14th Pac-12 matches against Oregon State and Oregon today and Sunday, respectively, UCLA feels that it is still growing, developing and coming together as a team. And though the Bruins have lost three of their last four matches,they feel that the steps they are taking are in the right direction.

“We finally understand that … we’re a good volleyball team, and we have just got to be that every single point,” said coach Michael Sealy. “We’re being that all the way up to these matches. We have got to remind ourselves to keep doing that throughout games.”

Although UCLA (12-10, 3-9 Pac-12) played well in its games against Stanford and Cal last weekend– according to some Bruins, well enough to have won both matches – errors made at key times crippled the team. Looking beyond those mistakes, players cited that the team played strongly throughout, showing a marked improvement from earlier in the season.

According to sophomore libero and defensive specialist Karly Drolson, the Bruins’ play last weekend was something to gain confidence from going forward.

“(Oregon and Oregon State) are both teams we can win against, and get a W off of … and that’s what we’re looking for,” she said. “We played well (last) weekend, and we can’t be too down on ourselves after that.”

UCLA has played these teams before on its road trip to Oregon almost a month ago. In the match against Oregon (13-9, 6-6) on Oct. 11, the Bruins, despite taking the first set and hanging tight with the Ducks throughout the rest of the match, dropped the next three sets.

UCLA rebounded against Oregon State (9-14, 0-12), winning in a grueling five-set affair in which only one set was decided by more than 4 points. The win – the Bruins’ first in the Pac-12 – was particularly important for the team, as it halted UCLA’s five-game skid against Pac-12 teams.

Another positive for the Bruins is the fact that neither opponent has been playing particularly well as of late. The Ducks have gone 1-3 in their past four matches, with the only victory coming in five sets against Arizona. The Beavers have not won a match since late September, and have lost to every single team in the Pac-12 this season.

If the Bruins can play as well as they have been playing of late while improving their performance under late-game pressure, this could end up as a very positive weekend. The players understand that, and they are excited to finally have results to validate their recent growth.

“We’re getting better and better, and I’m just excited for the rest of the way,” said senior outside hitter Kelly Reeves. “We have eight matches left, and we have to make them count, and I look forward to getting out there.”