Women’s volleyball opens season undefeated at LMU Invitational
Middle blocker Jennie Frager had eight kills and ten blocks in Saturday night’s match against Loyola Marymount. The senior’s double-digit block performance was UCLA’s first since 2012. (Korbin Placett/Daily Bruin senior staff)
By David Gottlieb
Aug. 29, 2016 3:51 a.m.
The offseason is over, but it feels like last season never ended for the Bruins.
“Communication is almost effortless,” said redshirt junior setter Ryann Chandler. “It definitely helps that we have a solid group of returners, and I think that the new girls have integrated really, really well into our system.”
The No. 12 UCLA women’s volleyball team (3-0) rolled through three matches at the LMU Invitational last weekend, sweeping Niagara (0-3) and Illinois State (1-2) before taking down No. 21 Loyola Marymount (2-1) in four sets.
Coach Michael Sealy stuck his veterans at the pins, with senior Jordan Anderson and junior Reily Buechler combining for close to half of UCLA’s kills this weekend.
Sophomore Kyra Rogers continued to show her versatility as an attacker. She moved over to the right side in lieu of regular opposites freshman Torrey Van Winden and redshirt senior Haley Lawless, both of whom were unavailable this weekend due to training room concerns, Sealy said.
“I thought (Rogers) did an amazing job,” Chandler said. “She’s really flexible in every single position she goes into, and I trust that she’s going to get the job done.”
Rogers will re-enter the mix on the left side when Van Winden and Lawless return. Sealy said both right side hitters should be ready for the team’s upcoming trip to Hawaii.
In the middle, senior Jennie Frager took control with a tomahawk swing that netted her 28 kills and a team-best .562 hitting percentage over the three-game tournament.
“I’ve always been trained to hit as high as I can,” Frager said. “I’ve just been really focusing in preseason on making sure to hit it over the top, not into the block.”
Freshman blocker Madeleine Gates got plenty of reps in the middle, playing in eight sets, three more than senior Claire Felix. Gates replaced Felix in the first game of the match against the Lions, the only set the Bruins lost all weekend.
“Claire started the match and she hit great,” Sealy said. “We were down by nine points, I’m out of timeouts, you just look to make a little sub. We ended up getting a little momentum, so it had nothing to do with the (Felix) versus (Gates), we just got momentum, and most coaches are superstitious.”
Gates averaged a kill and a half per set and hit .259, while Felix notched two kills a game and tied Frager for the team lead in hitting percentage with her own .562 mark.
Defensive specialist Zana Muno and Chandler took the court at the same time in all three games after splitting time at setter last year.
“We have a really great dynamic because if I dig the ball she can step in and set,” Chandler said. “We flow together really nicely. It’s fun to play with her.”
Chandler led her team in assists with 88 on the weekend, with freshman setter Kylie Miller coming in second with 21 assists in her three sets played. Muno and senior libero Taylor Formico registered five and six assists respectively on out-of-system balls.
Freshman Savvy Simo filled in at defensive specialist, the only position at which the Bruins are not returning a 2015 starter.
UCLA will head to Honolulu for the Hawaiian Airlines Wahine Volleyball Classic Thursday. The Bruins’ biggest challenge will be No. 6 Hawai’i, which has started the season 0-2, before facing unranked Pacific and Missouri State.
Email Gottlieb at [email protected] or tweet @BroadcasterDave.
