Women’s volleyball looks to start season strong in Nebraska with new additions

Change is the word of the season.

UCLA women’s volleyball will open the 2019 season this week in Lincoln, Nebraska, with the Husker Invitational. The Bruins will showcase a significantly different lineup than in last year’s opener, including two transfers.

“It’s definitely different. I think the team changed a lot, even the coaching staff changed a lot, so there’s a lot of things to work through,” said junior outside hitter Mac May. “But I think we didn’t really miss a beat, we really just got right back into practice and just worked with what we had.”

The Bruins have a chance to rebound from a disappointing 2018 season in which they finished 13-14, the first losing record in the program’s history. After a five-set loss to rival USC in its last match cemented UCLA’s sub-.500 record, the team was automatically disqualified from playoff contention for the first time since 2013.

“I think we just really, really don’t want a repeat from last year, so it’s like win, win, win, just focused on the next thing,” May said. “We’re really working toward just being a very successful program from this point on, and not repeating what happened last year.”

Since the end of last season there have been some changes to the roster for both the players and coaching staff. Coach Michael Sealy expanded his staff by adding an associate head coach in Brad Keller, as well as Megan Pendergast as assistant coach. Keller had spent the last six years with UCLA men’s volleyball, helping the Bruins to the national championship game in 2018.

“(Keller) brought over more back row plays so that there’s more options for attacking,” said senior outside hitter Savvy Simo. “It’s going to be really helpful for us in the long run against teams, especially when the setter’s front row. So it’s just little things like that that we’ve really started to improve on.”

The Bruins’ roster will also see additions with two new freshmen and two transfers. While over half of UCLA’s players are from California, both incoming freshmen come from outside the state, as middle blocker Anna Dodson hails from Colorado and defensive specialist Mari Hinkle is from Minnesota.

UCLA’s two transfers include sophomore defensive specialist Kelli Barry, who transferred from San Diego, and senior setter Cali Thompson, who transferred from Portland and joined the team in February. Thompson is expected to fill in the gap at setter left by former Bruin Kylie Miller, who transferred to Minnesota after last season.

“(Thompson’s) been with us for a while, … so it’s basically the same group we’ve had since last spring,” Sealy said. “And (the two freshmen) are both great competitors. I think they bring good energy on the floor, they’re both go-getters, so they definitely are awesome for the team to have.”

UCLA will first take the court against No. 20 Baylor on Friday. The Bruins also played the Bears last season, defeating them in five sets.

The Bruins will then face the host team No. 2 Nebraska on Saturday night. Nebraska advanced all the way to the championship game last year, but was ultimately defeated by current-No. 1 Stanford in the title match.

UCLA will face eight currently ranked teams in all this season, with six of them being in the Pac-12. The Bruins themselves are currently sitting 10 spots outside of the top-25, after receiving seven votes.

UCLA will face Baylor on Friday afternoon at 2:30 p.m.