Women’s volleyball on the upswing following lineup adjustment
Torrey Van Winden said that she noticed many of the California hitters were tooling and hitting line shots. The freshman opposite worked in practice this week to defend against those types of strategies, hoping to keep Utah and Colorado from doing the same thing. (Jintak Han/Assistant Photo editor)
By Melissa Zhang
Oct. 27, 2016 10:06 p.m.
When UCLA women’s volleyball faced Colorado and Utah four weeks ago, it was nowhere near its full potential.
“The last time we played these two teams, we didn’t play very well,” said freshman setter Kylie Miller. “We had a pretty bad weekend since we were just starting the 6-2.”
Coach Michael Sealy had implemented the new 6-2 rotation just two games prior, which the No. 12 Bruins (16-4, 7-3 Pac-12) have been continuing to utilize since then. UCLA needed some time to adjust to the setup before growing more stable and consistent.
If its current four-match winning streak is any indication, things have been working.
UCLA toppled No. 17 Stanford and California last week, and will continue their four-game homestand Friday and Saturday against unranked Colorado (12-8, 4-6 Pac-12) and No. 21 Utah (15-6, 6-4 Pac-12).
The Bruins hope to redeem themselves in their last match against the Buffs on Friday at 7 p.m. They fell in four sets to Colorado earlier this season in Boulder. Outside hitters Alexa Smith and Stephanie Shadley led the Buff offense in kills.
[Related:Ego gets in the way as women’s volleyball falls to Colorado]
“These teams have some really big hitters, so we’re going to have to be able to stop them,” said freshman opposite Torrey Van Winden. “We saw (California) tooling off the block and hitting line shots a lot, so we’ve just been working on that a lot in the gym. I wanna make sure we’re able to defend on that.”
Van Winden said that the team was still transitioning into the new lineup during their previous match against Colorado. The weeks following that match, however, provided them with enough time to grow more comfortable and secure with the team’s abilities.
“We have a lot of freshman players, so just getting that dynamic and meshing us into the pot was huge in terms of these last few wins,” Van Winden said. “Especially going into Stanford and California, we just felt really confident with each other and there was a lot of trust.”
While UCLA hopes to ride their momentum into these upcoming battles, Sealy has been careful not to let his team’s recent success get the best of his players.
“We got out of Utah 3-0, but I think you have to let that go and realize they’re still playing really really well,” Sealy said. “The Pac-12 is too talented, top to bottom. The athletes are too good, so you gotta take everybody exactly the same.”
The Bruins hope to once again emerge dominant against the Utes with a new wealth of knowledge and some big wins under their belt. In their previous matchup, senior outside hitter Jordan Anderson and middle blocker Jennie Frager led the team with 15 and 11 kills apiece.
[Related: Women’s volleyball defeats Utah in straight sets]
The Bruins have grown measurably since they began their run this year, in particular due to Van Winden’s recent performances.
The rookie led the team in kills in their games against the Northern California schools, claiming consecutive Pac-12 honors as Offensive Player of the Week and Freshman Player of the Week.
“We’ve gotten into the groove and become more comfortable now, so it should be a lot better,” Miller said. “We’ve all bought into the 6-2, and we’re ready.”
