Women’s volleyball defeats Oregon State, falls to Oregon

The Bruins had mixed results this weekend in Oregon.

No. 22 UCLA women’s volleyball (12-9, 7-7 Pac-12) beat Oregon State (11-15, 1-13) in five sets Friday before losing to No. 16 Oregon (16-8, 9-5) in four sets on Sunday.

After sweeping the Beavers earlier this season, the Bruins went to five sets to get the win Friday.

UCLA was down by as much as nine in the first set, as Oregon State went on an 11-2 run early to make it 16-7. The Bruins climbed back and had three chances at set point, but were unable to finish it, losing the set 28-26.

UCLA led for almost the entire second set, and were up by six as late as 21-15. But it again could not close out, as Oregon State scored 11 of the last 14 points to take the second set 26-24.

“We came out a little on our heels the first two sets,” said senior libero Zana Muno. “Once we didn’t wait for them to give us the game and we went to take the game, that’s when it turned around for us.”

The Bruins took a 9-2 lead in the third set and never gave it up. The Beavers got within one point at 17-16, but UCLA went on a six-point run and took the third set 25-18.

Oregon State tied up the score at 13-13 in the fourth set, but the Bruins pulled ahead for a 21-16 lead. The Beavers came back and took the lead to force match point at 24-23, but the Bruins were able to get it done with three points in a row to edge out Oregon State 26-24, putting the teams at two sets apiece.

The deciding fifth set saw six ties and four lead changes, as neither team was able to get more than a one-point lead until 6-6, when the Bruins scored four in a row to take the lead. They’d hold on to this advantage and take the set 15-9, completing the five-set comeback victory.

“I thought we showed a lot of patience on Friday night,” said coach Michael Sealy. “We’ve got to be able to make plays when we’re not feeling great.”

Junior middle blocker Madeleine Gates led the team with 17 kills, followed by senior middle blocker Kyra Rogers, who posted a career-high 15 kills. Sophomore outside hitter Mac May had 15 kills to go with a career-high 16 digs, and Muno recorded 29 digs for a season-high. The Bruins outhit the Beavers .188 to .135 overall.

In the Sunday match against Oregon, the teams went back and forth with the lead in the first set before the Bruins took a 17-16 advantage that they wouldn’t relinquish, winning the first set 25-21.

The second set was tied at seven before Oregon went on a run, scoring 12 of the next 14 to take a 19-9 lead. The Ducks would go on to win the second set 25-14, outhitting the Bruins .353 to .028.

UCLA started the third set with six of the first seven points, but Oregon went on its own run to take the lead 10-9. The Ducks led the rest of the match to a 25-16 third-set win, again outhitting the Bruins .211 to .000.

“It just starts with the passing, and we didn’t pass as well as we normally do, so we … didn’t give the hitters the best chances,” Muno said.

The Bruins were behind for most of the fourth set, but came back to tie it at 17-17 and again at 23-23. Oregon had a match point at 24-23, but a service error tied it up again at 24. After UCLA missed its own chance on set point at 25-24, Oregon scored the last three points to take the set 27-25 and win the match.

May was the only Bruin in the double-digits in kills with 12, while the Ducks had four players with more than 10 kills. Oregon also outhit the Bruins in the match .211 to .077.

“I thought we battled throughout the whole weekend,” Rogers said. “They’re a really good team, and it just didn’t fall our way.”

The Bruins will come home to face No. 18 Washington State on Thursday and Washington on Saturday.