UCLA flies over rivals at Hawaiian Airlines Wahine Volleyball classic
Women’s volleyball swept three teams en route to capturing the Hawaiian Airlines Wahine Volleyball Classic last weekend. (Jose Ubeda/Daily Bruin staff)
By Amit Nainani
Sept. 8, 2015 9:03 a.m.
Early season adversity for sports teams can cause a team to become dispirited or motivate it to emerge better than before.
The No. 17 UCLA women’s volleyball team has evidently chosen to follow the latter path as it recovered from its shocking 3-0 defeat against Loyola Marymount University last Sunday to win the Hawaiian Airlines Wahine Volleyball Classic. En route to their title the Bruins beat the American University Eagles, the Iowa Hawkeyes and the No. 16 Hawai’i Rainbow Wahine.
The Bruins played only one set above the minimum over the course of the tournament as they were able to sweep both the Eagles and the Hawkeyes, 3-0, before defeating the Rainbow Wahine 3-1 Sunday night. UCLA has now won the Wahine Volleyball Classic 10 times, second most behind Hawai’i.
“Week one we played against a good team and then whatever happens happens. We gave (freshman setter) Zana (Muno) a chance to set and she didn’t have a lot of setting experience until now,” said Coach Michael Sealy. “We just let her run the offense and then figured it out as she went. She provided a good spark.”
The Bruins were led by an efficient team attack as they were able to maintain a healthy .258 hit percentage over the course of the tournament. Junior middle blocker/outside hitter Claire Felix led the way with a solid .444 hit percentage. Just behind her was junior outside hitter Jordan Anderson who compiled a team-high 44 kills over the course of the tournament that saw her reach double-digits in kills for each of the three matches played.
“I want to give all the credit to my defense,” said Anderson. “They are the first line of defense, they start the (play) with a pass and then Zana Muno, our right-setter, has the faith to give me the ball. Basically, I would give all the credit to them.”
Sunday night’s game against the Rainbow Wahine was a seesaw affair that saw the Bruins win 25-16, 25-27, 25-17, 28-26. The fourth set did not lack excitement as the crowd on hand witnessed Hawai’i save four set points before UCLA saved a set point of their own after a solo block by junior middle blocker Jennie Frager.
Frager’s block came after she appeared to anticipate the oncoming hit and was able to position her hands high over the net to deflect the ball back to the Hawaiian side. This proved to be the momentum shifter as the Bruins followed up Frager’s tremendous individual effort with back-to-back blocks from redshirt junior outside hitter Haley Lawless and Felix to close out the match on the backs of their defense.
“Our coaches did a really good job of scouting the opponents. One of the things was that when the middle hitter was coming in to anticipate that way so I did,” said Frager. “I stuck with the scouting report and (did) what the coaches told me – and I lucked out.”
