No. 15 UCLA defeats No. 21 Colorado in straight-set sweep
By Erik Kaye
Nov. 7, 2014 1:20 a.m.
It was all-too-familiar a score for the UCLA women’s volleyball team on Thursday night in Boulder, Colo.
It was less than a week after the Bruins were handed a three-sets-to-none sweep at the hands of the Washington Huskies, and by the end of the second set, it appeared that this game would end in a very similar, one-sided manner.
Only this time, UCLA was on the better side of the blowout.
In only the team’s second straight-set sweep of a Pac-12 opponent this season, No. 15 UCLA (17-7, 8-5 Pac-12) managed to secure a three-set sweep over No. 21 Colorado (15-10, 7-6) in convincing fashion, both furthering the team’s shot at a berth in the NCAA tournament as well as sliding upwards in a very congested Pac-12 conference leaderboard.
Leading the stat sheet for the Bruins was senior outside hitter Karsta Lowe who nearly managed a double-double, recording 18 kills on 40 total attempts for a .325 hitting percentage while registering nine digs.
Lowe, who was recently named only the seventh Bruin ever to receive the Sports Imports/AVCA National Player of the Week was among a handful of Bruins who managed to record more than one block – one solo and one assisted – en route to out-blocking the Buffs 6-4 as a team.
Senior setter Julie Consani also managed to record 35 total assists on the night, while sophomore middle blocker/outside hitter Claire Felix registered a .700 hitting percentage as she saw 7 of her 10 attacks find the opponents’ floorboards.
As a whole, the Bruins led the way in nearly all team stats, even managing to hold the Buffaloes to four total team blocks, a far cry from the 15 blocks the Bruins allowed in their loss to the Buffs earlier this season.
The assertive win for UCLA comes at a crucial point in the team’s season, when the Bruins looked to shake free of a block of Pac-12 teams stuck at 7-5 records and potentially vie for a third place finish behind powerhouses Stanford and Washington.
In a show of the potential for an often unpredictable UCLA volleyball team, this sweep of a top-25 opponent will likely, at least for the moment, boost UCLA’s RPI and place the team in an optimal situation to earn a berth in December’s NCAA tournament following last year’s disappointing hiatus.
From Colorado, the Bruins travel a state over to Salt Lake City, where the Utah Utes (12-11, 2-10) await a Sunday afternoon matchup in what will be another chance for this Bruins team to prove Thursday’s win was not a fluke.
The Utes, who sit at third-to-last in the Pac-12 standings, nearly stole a home victory away from the Bruins, who managed to hold on to a two-set win in the fifth set on Oct. 10.
Although a few days of rest stand between Thursday’s victory and UCLA’s next chance to get on the court, the team can’t, if it has NCAA tournament aspirations, afford to let performances like Thursday’s against Colorado become a memory of the past.
