Women’s volleyball seeks second victory over fierce Oregon offense
Torrey Van Winden had a huge game the last time the Bruins played the Ducks. In the October matchup, the freshman pin hitter came up with 19 kills, a mark she’s only matched one other time this season, against Stanford. (Dayoung Lee/Daily Bruin)
By Nicholas Yekikian
Nov. 17, 2016 11:37 p.m.
With only three matches left in the regular season, the Bruins will finish off a tough pair of games sandwiched between rivalry matches against Stanford and USC.
After beating Oregon State on Wednesday, UCLA women’s volleyball will take on Oregon on Friday night.
“These matches are the dangerous ones,” said coach Michael Sealy. “We have that midweek match against a team where they’re maybe not externally as motivating for the players. They’re not a Stanford. They’re not a big name, but they’re a good team. So this is definitely going to be a challenging night for us.”
The No. 9 Bruins (22-5, 13-4 Pac-12) head into Friday night’s match against the No. 19 Ducks (18-7, 11-5) with sole possession of first place in the Pac-12, one half game ahead of No. 8 Washington.
The last time UCLA faced Oregon, the match lasted for more than two-and-a-half hours and resulted in a five-set Bruin victory.
Freshman opposite Torrey Van Winden logged a season-high 19 kills and had a hitting percentage of .341 last time out against Oregon. Jordan Anderson and senior middle blocker Jennie Frager both dropped double digits in kills as well, notching 17 and 12 respectively.
“It was a fierce game last time, but we also know that each side of the net has changed so much since then,” said senior pin hitter Anderson. “Torrey Van Winden came out of her shell that game, it was amazing to see that.”
On the UCLA side of the net, the Bruins have switched up their formation to a more unconventional version of the 6-2. Now, pin hitters like Anderson and Van Winden routinely swing from both sides of the net, instead of fitting into more normalized left-side and right-side roles.
Sealy said that Oregon runs a very sophisticated and fast offense, so the Bruins will have to make sure to track Duck hitters as they prepare to attack.
“Their passes are below the net and their setters are really small,” Anderson said. “They can get it to their hitters really fast. That was probably the hardest thing.”
Oregon comes into Friday night having won four of its last five matches, including a victory against Washington State, a team who beat UCLA in five sets earlier this season.
The Bruins will also ride a hot streak into Friday night’s match, having won 10 of their last 11 games.
Van Winden said she expects a strong block, but she also noted that Oregon is a young team.
“It’s kind of a mental fight. It’s a battle,” Van Winden said. “So we’re really excited to see how that goes.”
