Women’s volleyball sweeps Arizona in back-and-forth matchup
Junior outside hitter Mac May collected 21 kills in No. 23 UCLA women’s volleyball’s sweep over Arizona on Wednesday afternoon. It was the eighth game this season May has hit the 20-kill mark. (Axel Lopez/Daily Bruin senior staff)
Women's Volleyball
| No. 23 UCLA | 3 |
| Arizona | 0 |
By Coral Smith
Nov. 27, 2019 7:32 p.m.
The Bruins pulled out the win in their trip to the desert.
No. 23 UCLA women’s volleyball (17-11, 12-7 Pac-12) defeated Arizona (15-16, 5-14) on the road Wednesday afternoon in three sets in the teams’ only matchup this season. Out of the Bruins’ 17 wins, 13 have come via the sweep, including eight versus conference teams.
The two teams were even on offense throughout the match, but UCLA finished with a slim advantage. The Bruins outhit the Wildcats .282 to .242, recording three more kills and one fewer attack error.
Junior outside hitter Mac May accounted for 21 of UCLA’s 47 kills, the eighth time she’s hit the 20-kill mark this season. Senior outside hitter Savvy Simo was second in kills, recording 10 along with 14 digs for her ninth double-double of the season.
UCLA also held Arizona to a single service ace, while the Wildcats made eight service errors.
The teams went back and forth early in the first set, with the score tying up five times before a five-point run gave the Bruins a 15-11 lead they would keep for the rest of the set. Three straight points on two kills and an ace gave UCLA the 25-20 set win.
The second set was similarly close before the teams approached double-digits, but at 11-11 a kill from Arizona outside hitter Paige Whipple – who had 21 kills on the match – put the Wildcats ahead.
That edge held up all the way to set point, but a ball-handling error brought the score even at 24 apiece, and three more kills gave the Bruins the 27-25 set win.
With the victory over the Wildcats, the Bruins improved to 17-0 in matches when they’ve won the second set.
An 8-3 run in the third set gave UCLA a three-point lead at 14-11 after Arizona again went up early. The Wildcats kept it close, however, never trailing by more than four points and closing the gap to 23-22 on their only service ace of the night. But after coach Michael Sealy called a timeout for the Bruins, UCLA was able to close out the sweep with a 25-22 win.
UCLA will wrap up its regular season schedule by traveling to the Galen Center to face rival USC on Friday night. The NCAA tournament selection show will be held Sunday, when UCLA will find out if it’s made it into the postseason.
