Women’s volleyball notches 1 win, 1 loss at games in Oregon

After dropping their first game of the weekend, the Bruins were at risk of falling to another conference foe two days later.

Despite both of its opponents having losing records coming into the weekend, UCLA women’s volleyball (10-7, 5-3 Pac-12) was swept by Oregon (6-11, 2-6) on Friday night and was pushed to five sets by Oregon State (8-11, 2-6) on Sunday, before pulling out the win.

“We missed opportunities,” said coach Michael Sealy. “Everything was off, I don’t think we executed very well the whole time.”

An early eight-point run in the first set against Oregon gave UCLA an 11-2 lead, which the Bruins held on to for most of the set. But with UCLA leading 23-20, Oregon scored the last five points of the set to win 25-23.

The Ducks won the second set by two points as well. The Bruins were ahead 24-22 and had the chance to even the match at a set apiece, but UCLA again allowed a run of four points, squandering two match points to fall 26-24.

The Ducks secured the sweep over the Bruins with a 25-16 third-set victory, outhitting UCLA .444 to .108.

“There were moments where we were gritty, we did some good things early on, but overall I don’t know if we’re playing at our max potential yet, so we’ve got to keep working on it,” Sealy said.

The Bruins got out to a quick two-set lead over the Beavers on Sunday with set scores of 25-23 and 25-15, but the Beavers forced both the third and fourth sets into extra points.

Neither team led by more than three points in the third set, and the teams tied up the score at 25, 26, 27 and 28 points before Oregon State tallied two kills to win the third set 30-28. All told, UCLA staved off seven set points before losing the set.

The Bruins were able to hold off three set points in the fourth set as well to tie it up at 24-24, but a service error and an attack error gave the Beavers the set win, taking the match to a decisive fifth set.

The last set also went beyond the minimum 15 points, as the teams were tied as late as 14-14 before a UCLA kill and block sealed the victory for the Bruins.

UCLA found success at the net against Oregon State, collecting a season-high 13 blocks from five players. Redshirt sophomore middle blocker Emily Ryan led the team with a career-best seven blocks to go with a career-high 11 kills.

“I just started coming in with the mindset of, ‘Just go block the ball,'” Ryan said. “At that point, yes we have a scouting report, but it’s all about playing volleyball and making sure that we’re keeping our servers on the line, or keeping our offense running however we can.”

Senior setter Cali Thompson recorded a double-double in both of the weekend’s matches, collecting at least 10 assists and 10 digs in each game, while redshirt freshman outside hitter Lexi Hadrych collected a career-high 15 kills against the Beavers.

The Bruins struggled at the service line, serving just four aces while collecting a season-high 19 service errors.

“We were just trying to go for a higher level of serving,” Hadrych said. “And trying to hit a little bit harder I think sometimes causes more errors.”

The Bruins will return to Westwood next weekend to face two ranked teams. UCLA will play No. 2 Stanford on Friday and No. 15 California on Sunday.