Women’s volleyball to square off against crosstown rival No. 1 USC
Junior libero Taylor Formico said that the UCLA women’s volleyball team will need use tough serves to get top-ranked USC out of its system. Formico said that that would help the Bruins commit to the block and take out some Trojan hitters. (Owen Emerson/Daily Bruin senior staff)
By David Gottlieb
Nov. 25, 2015 3:27 a.m.
It might not be too easy to tell, but the football players aren’t the only ones with a big game across town this week.
Before anything happens at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, the women’s volleyball team will make the trip to the Galen Center to take on USC Wednesday.
The No. 13 Bruins (22-6, 13-5) will have their work cut out for them. The No. 1 Trojans (29-1, 17-1) can clinch a tie with No. 2 Washington for the Pac-12 title with a win on Wednesday. UCLA is out of contention for the Pac-12 title, but a win would boost its seeding in the NCAA Tournament.
Last time these two teams met, USC flattened UCLA in straight sets at Pauley Pavilion in the first conference match of the season.
“That was our first match, our first time playing in front of an audience,” said junior middle blocker Jennie Frager. “We weren’t adjusted and we weren’t used to it. Now, we’ve been through so much this whole season that we’ll be a lot more ready to play a team like that.”
USC’s success is built around the outstanding play of senior outside hitter Samantha Bricio. The Trojans’ team captain ranks third in the nation with 658 points, second with 5.08 kills per set and first with 79 aces, 19 more than her nearest competitor.
Bricio benefits from the speed of the ‘SC offense. After the Sept. 23 win over UCLA, Trojan coach Mick Haley boasted that his offense was the fastest in the country, on par with the national team.
“They set fast to the outsides,” said UCLA coach Michael Sealy. “The ball probably gets from the setter to the hitter in less than a second. The blockers don’t have as much time to get out there, so it puts a lot more pressure on the defensive side.”
In order to slow down Bricio and the Trojans, junior libero Taylor Formico said, the Bruins will need to serve tough.
“Good teams like that, you have to get them out of system,” Formico said. “So we can commit block on Bricio and kind of take her out of the game.”
While Formico said she was excited to play USC during rivalry week and thinks the match will be fun, Sealy remains above it all.
“I personally don’t care,” said Sealy. “I don’t get into rivalry stuff. It’s volleyball. We gotta work on our side of the net. I don’t care what their ranking is. I don’t care where they live. Our team is getting prepped and ready for hopefully making the playoffs and making a run. There’s a lot of stuff we gotta get done this week.”
With the busy week, the team probably won’t have much time to properly enjoy Thanksgiving dinner. After the USC match is over, UCLA closes out conference play with a Friday home hosting No. 6 Stanford (20-6, 14-4). The Stanford contest could decide who takes third place in the Pac-12, and will also have an impact on playoff seeding.
