Women’s volleyball falls into pattern, splits matches against USC

The Bruins continued their trend of winning only one match per weekend.

Then-No. 15 UCLA women’s volleyball (12-6) defeated crosstown rival USC (4-8) at the Galen Center 3-1 in the first match Friday before losing to the Trojans 3-2 at home Sunday.

The Bruins took the first match’s opening set by double digits before being taken down by the Trojans 25-14 in the second set, courtesy of a 14-4 USC closing run.

In a tiebreaking third set, UCLA responded with a finishing run of its own, winning six of the last seven points, with two kills from freshman outside hitter/opposite Iman Ndiaye.

Ndiaye said the Bruins were performing well in both serving and blocking during the first match of the weekend.

“In the first match, I think we were really aggressive with our serving,” Ndiaye said. “It had us blocking really well because the other team was out of system a lot.”

With an opportunity to clinch the match in the fourth set, UCLA was once again able to establish an early 9-3 lead, with junior outside hitter/opposite élan McCall opening the set with an ace. The Trojans were unable to come back from the deficit, and the Bruins won the last set 25-17, taking the match.

UCLA was unable to replicate its success when it returned to Pauley Pavilion for the second match.

The first set of the second match saw USC get out to an early 8-5 lead before UCLA tied the score at 17 apiece. The Bruins then went on to score seven of the next nine points, with McCall picking up a pair of kills, to give UCLA a five-point lead. However, the Bruins were unable to secure a match point and ended up losing to the Trojans, 27-25.

The two teams tied at 10 points each to open the second set, but a few scoring runs from USC gave it a 25-23 victory over UCLA.

On the brink of dropping the match, the Bruins scored the first five points and opened the third set with an early 10-4 lead. The six-point lead continued throughout the game, with UCLA leading 19-13 before scoring six of the last seven points to win the set 25-14. Senior outside hitter/opposite Mac May – the team’s leader in kills – recorded a half-dozen kills in the set, including the set-winner.

Redshirt junior middle blocker Emily Ryan – who recorded a season-high nine blocks during Friday’s victory – said the Bruins’ mentality was the difference between the first two sets and the third set.

“What really helped us was just to realize, put everything out on the floor, just go for every ball,” Ryan said. “Making sure that we’re grinding, making sure that we’re making the right plays, just keeping the ball off the net as much as possible and making those plays happen.”

Though UCLA got out to an early 6-2 lead in the fourth set, USC battled back to tie the score at seven apiece. After five more tied scores – the last one being at 17-17 – two errors from the Trojans and five kills from the Bruins secured UCLA a 25-21 set victory, prolonging the match to a fifth set with potential for a Bruins’ weekend sweep.

In the last set of the match, May recorded another six kills, bringing her match total to 25. However, on match point, May committed an attack error, giving USC a 15-11 win and a 3-2 match victory.

Ryan said the team was unable to find its rhythm in the second game of the weekend.

“What changed was we weren’t able to find our groove right away in Sunday’s match,” Ryan said. “In Friday’s match, we were able to figure it out right away and make plays, run an offense.”

Coach Michael Sealy said he was frustrated with his team’s inability to win both weekend games.

“We’ve played that same match five times now, where we play someone on night one and they are remarkably better on the second night,” Sealy said. “’SC was way better today than they were on Friday. And that’s how it was with Utah, Colorado, Washington, Oregon. Exactly the same.”

This weekend marks the fifth time this season that the Bruins have won the first match of the weekend only to lose to the same team in the second game.

Nonetheless, Sealy said he believes his team’s ability to fight back in the second half of the second match showed some signs of improvement.

“There’s a weird little passive thing we have that gets us in trouble,” Sealy said. “Today was the first day we went through a match where we had it and were able to bounce out of it. So in that sense, it’s a good match because we learned something. There’s something new that we can execute.”

UCLA will return to action against Oregon State on Friday at Pauley Pavilion.