Women’s volleyball to build on 2014 campaign, targets NCAA title

Last year, the UCLA women’s volleyball’s goal was to become a new team.

The 2013 season was historically rough. The Bruins posted a 15-15 record, the worst in the program’s history, marking the first time in 17 years that the program did not receive an invitation to the NCAA Tournament. The team had lost its winning ways and needed to re-evaluate itself going forward.

For all intents in purposes, the Bruins did just that in 2014, remedying their mediocre performance from 2013. The team improved to a 22-12 record, and tied for fourth in the Pac-12 and finished No. 15 in the nation in the American Volleyball Coaches Association poll.

Now, as the upcoming season gets underway, coach Michael Sealy, entering his sixth year, has his eyes set on a new goal: becoming a national contender again.

“You just want to be as good as this particular group can be. You obviously want to go far. I think we can make it further than the Sweet Sixteen like we did last year,” Sealy said. “I think there is enough physical talent in the gym to compete for a Final Four and even a national championship.”

UCLA will start the season No. 20 in the AVCA polls and No. 8 in the Pac-12 according to the Pac-12 volleyball coaches’ poll.

The team will be bringing on five newcomers: three freshman, a junior transfer and a redshirt sophomore transfer to help replace the four seniors from last year’s team.

“They’re great. They came in and the upper class was immediately supportive,” Sealy said. “I think as a staff we have more clarity and vision on how we want to do things, so there is a bit more structure at play to help them get more acclimated to what we are doing.”

One of the newcomers that might make an immediate impact is incoming freshman middle blocker Alexa Dreyer, a 6-foot-3 Under Armour All-American and the MaxPreps Division II Player of the Year in California.

It is the hope that either one of the newcomers or current veteran players will step up to take the place of graduated senior and AVCA First Team All-American Karsta Lowe.

”We have been really focusing on our side of the net and what we can do to kind of get more in sync and to get a feel of what it will be like in game-time situations,” said senior defensive specialist Karly Drolson. “Just really focusing on our serves and pressure situations.”

Last year, as part of becoming a new team, the Bruins took up summer reading. Last season it was the “Toughness” by ESPN college basketball analyst Jay Bilas. This year it was “The Mindful Athlete: Secrets to Pure Performance” by George Mumford, a sports psychologist who worked for Phil Jackson during his years with the Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers.

The players have been meeting regularly to discuss the book in the hopes that it will help foster closer relationships with each other, and to also apply the lessons from the book to their daily lives.

“We have taken a lot of the information from the book and have been applying it our game and this team,” said redshirt junior outside hitter Haley Lawless. “Just taking these different aspects from the book to help us reach our goal of a national championship.”

The season begins Saturday against Virginia. With little rest the Bruins will be back at it on Sunday against Loyal Marymount. Sealy said he hopes to learn a lot of from these non-conference matches, including what the final lineup will be heading into the brutal Pac-12 season.

“I can write the lineup up in a variety of different ways, which I think makes us strong. We have had a lot of opportunities scrimmaging against each other and both teams have been really strong. It’s definitely a good problem to have.”