Women’s volleyball looks to ride first-set winning trend against Utah
Senior defensive specialist Rachel Inouye said that the UCLA women’s volleyball team has been trying to capitalize on momentum swings. (Owen Emerson/Daily Bruin senior staff)
By Amit Nainani
Nov. 6, 2015 1:37 a.m.
Heading into the second round of Pac-12 play, the women’s volleyball team is 18-0 when it wins the first set against its opposition.
All the wins may not be pretty, as evidenced by Wednesday’s affair with Colorado, but if No. 9 UCLA jumps out to an early lead, its opposition has not been able to make a comeback.
On the other hand, when the Bruins (19-4, 10-3 Pac-12) lose the first set, they are just 1-4. That one win came against the Utes (9-14, 3-9), who they will face again Friday night in Pauley Pavilion. In order to avoid dropping another first set to Utah, UCLA will need to build upon the progress it made with a new offensive system Wednesday night against Colorado.
After unveiling the new attacking approach – built around two passers instead of three – to start the match Wednesday, the Bruins took some time to adjust, allowing the Buffaloes to play two tightly contested sets at the start of the match. But in the third set, UCLA found its groove, easily dispatching Colorado and exhibiting the potential of the new attacking approach.
“We’ve started slow before a few times this season,” said coach Michael Sealy. “This time it was due to the new personnel and the new positions. The players were a little rattled by it, but once we were able to take a time-out, we were able to realize that this is still just volleyball.”
Although UCLA was able to recover from a lost first set in the previous match against Utah, it’s not a formula the Bruins will look to replicate.
“In general, volleyball is just a game of runs. In the bigger picture, you can think of sets as runs themselves,” said senior defensive specialist Rachel Inouye. “It’s a huge momentum swing to win a set and the push you get from winning the first one can give you that extra push into the second set, and it can change an entire match.”
With only one day in between matches, UCLA will go through some light practices and video work in preparation for Utah, which according to Sealy is also undergoing its own formation shift.
Despite the uncertainty of the Utes’ new formation, junior outside hitter Claire Felix believes that if the Bruins focus on what they need to do, and come out fast Friday night, they will be able to bump that 18-0 mark to 19-0.
“Honestly, if we bring it right away, the team’s winning mentality kicks in,” Felix said. “And we just roll.”
