Colorado whitewashes women’s volleyball, setting up crucial crosstown match Friday
In her first career start, redshirt freshman middle blocker Emily Ryan recorded 10 kills, three block assists and an ace Wednesday against Colorado. (Talia Markowitz/Daily Bruin)
Women’s volleyball
| Colorado | 3 |
| UCLA | 0 |
By Dylan Dsouza
Nov. 22, 2018 2:15 p.m.
The Bruins are now on the brink of ineligibility for the NCAA tournament.
UCLA women’s volleyball (13-13, 8-11 Pac-12) – unranked for the first time since September 2014 – were whitewashed by Colorado (18-12, 10-9) on Wednesday afternoon at Pauley Pavilion. The defeat turns the Bruins’ season finale on Friday into a must-win to have a chance of qualifying for the tournament. All teams with records under .500 are automatically ineligible for the NCAA tournament.
The Buffs secured seven of the last nine points in the first set to win 25-20. Colorado’s Justine Spann racked up an error-free eight kills from 10 attempts while no UCLA player had more than four kills.
“We couldn’t stop (Spann),” said redshirt freshman middle blocker Emily Ryan. “She was on fire tonight. Definitely give it to her. We could’ve done a little better pushing over on our blocks but that’s about it.”
The Bruins surrendered an 11-2 run in the second frame, relinquishing a 7-5 lead en route to a 25-15 set loss.
The Buffs never led in the third set until they went ahead 23-22. They managed to finish the sweep with a 26-24 set win and kill from Alexa Smith, who leads Colorado on the season in kills.
“They were digging in transition really well,” said coach Michael Sealy. “We probably weren’t clean enough coming back in transition. We were not causing enough stress and strain on their block defense when we get into those long rallies.”
The Bruins were led offensively by debut starter Ryan, who notched 10 kills with two errors from 20 attempts in addition to a service ace and three block assists.
“(Ryan) did amazing,” said junior middle blocker Madeleine Gates. “She’s been doing really well in practice this season and it’s nice to see (her) finally get a chance out there and prove what she’s made of.”
It was Ryan’s third time seeing the court this season.
“I kept telling people all year she’s really really good,” Sealy said. “Do I question not using her earlier? Yes. But we’ve been trying to figure our stuff out all season. She’s super talented. She’s got a huge future.”
Ryan was followed by three Bruins – Gates and sophomore outside hitters Mac May and Jenny Mosser – who had 8 kills each. UCLA was outhit .319 to .219 in the match and out-killed 50 to 38. The Bruins also committed eight service errors as opposed to four for the Buffs.
“I don’t mind a service error if they’re in a good rotation and we’re serving tough,” Sealy said. “I think we missed a few in rotations in which they were struggling so I’d like to see us get those in a little more often.”
The Bruins’ will take on USC (20-10, 12-7) on Friday evening to conclude their regular season slate.
A defeat against its crosstown rivals would lock in a sub-.500 record on the season, which has never occurred in UCLA women’s volleyball history.
“We’re hoping on luck,” Ryan said. “If we beat USC, we have a chance. We are ranked 35th in terms of (Rating Percentage Index).”
Historically, a team ranked as high as 35th has always received an at-large bid if eligible.
