Women’s volleyball heads up to the Bay to face off against Stanford and California
Junior setter Kylie Miller has started each of the last five matches for the Bruins and is averaging 11.38 assists and 2.50 digs per set in that span. On the season, Miller has totaled 377 assists and 110 digs. (Alice Naland/Daily Bruin)
Women’s volleyball
California
Today, 7 p.m.
Pauley Pavilion
UCLA Live Stream
No. 2 Stanford
Sunday, 4 p.m.
Pauley Pavilion
Pac-12 Networks
By Coral Smith
Oct. 26, 2018 3:39 a.m.
Get ready for a rematch.
No. 20 UCLA women’s volleyball (11-6, 6-4 Pac-12) will face California (11-10, 3-7) and No. 2 Stanford (18-1, 10-0) for the second time this season Friday and Sunday, respectively, at Pauley Pavilion.
“You see what they tried to do against you specifically, because you never know if their tendencies are geared towards other teams or not,” said coach Michael Sealy. “We just played these teams a few weeks ago so it’s nice to see them again.”
UCLA was swept by Stanford in its first match against the Cardinal this season with scores of 25-18, 25-19 and 25-17.
The Bruins were outhit .316 to .121 in the loss and had 28 kills to the Cardinal’s 55. Three Stanford players reached double digits in kills, while no player for UCLA reached more than nine.
The Cardinal are currently top in the Pac-12 with an unbeaten record in conference play. Stanford has only lost four sets so far in conference play and has completed six sweeps. The only loss the Cardinal have suffered this season was at the hands of the No. 1 BYU Cougars (20-0) in five sets.
Stanford tops the Pac-12 in almost every category, averaging 15.62 kills, 3.31 blocks and 1.47 aces per set during conference play.
“We know Stanford has a big offense and a big block, so we need to work to make saves … and give us a better chance to score,” said junior setter Kylie Miller.
UCLA will face California first, who comes into this weekend having gone 3-3 since Oct. 5. Most recently the Bears were swept by the No. 16 Oregon Ducks, followed with a sweep of the Oregon State Beavers.
The Bruins went to five sets against the Bears a month ago, as UCLA dropped the first two sets 25-21 and 25-19 before coming back and winning the next three 25-23, 25-21 and 15-13.
Despite losing the match, the Bears outhit the Bruins .281 to .209 and recorded 67 kills to UCLA’s 62.
Sophomore outside hitter Mac May and redshirt freshman outside hitter Alexis Light recorded 20 and 19 kills in the match, respectively.
UCLA finished its first half of conference play with a straight-set loss to Washington State on Sunday. Before that game, the Bruins had won four matches in a row, three of them sweeps.
“We’re just trying to erase that game,” said senior libero Zana Muno. “We just kind of came out flat, so we’re just trying to wipe that from our memory and use it to know that we need to go into every game with a lot more energy.”
