UCLA women’s volleyball defeats Arizona, falls to Arizona State in reverse sweep

The Bruins saw another winning streak come to an end.

After sweeping Arizona (11-8, 3-5 Pac-12) in Tucson on Friday evening, No. 14 UCLA women’s volleyball (13-3, 6-2) was defeated by Arizona State (9-10, 2-6) in Tempe on Sunday afternoon in five sets despite winning the first two sets.

Following their victory against the Wildcats, the Bruins held the No. 1 position in the Pac-12, and graduate student opposite/outside hitter Mac May tied Linda Robertson as the fourth all-time in kills in the history of the program.

May said she is excited about that accomplishment, but attributed her success to the help she has received from her teammates.

“We worked really hard this weekend to make sure our hitters were open and getting good swings, so I definitely think it is attributed to all that hard work,” May said. “Moving forward, I am hungry for more and I just want to keep helping my team as much as possible.”

Against the Sun Devils, the Bruins were ahead the entirety of the first set with the exception of falling behind 2-1 at the start of the match. In the fifth set, on the other hand, UCLA trailed the entirety of the frame after winning the first point.

May said in order to prevent shifts in momentum, the team cannot allow deficits to define the outcome of the match.

“Sometimes when things go south, it seems very heavy and the weight of the world is coming down,” May said. “It’s just a game and it’s fun, so we have to keep our heads up and keep fighting through it.”

With five out of its six starters being underclassmen, Arizona State outhit UCLA .241 to .194 and had 11 service aces compared to the blue and gold’s six.

Sophomore setter Kate Lane subbed in for the Bruins at the end of the fourth set in her first appearance of the season. Coach Michael Sealy said he was impressed with Lane’s contributions in a limited amount of time despite the loss.

“She came in and made some nice plays and showed that she’s got a handle on being able to come in during some of those situations,” Sealy said. “She will get some looks.”

Moving forward, Sealy said he does not want the team to focus on wins and losses but rather improving.

“The season is so young, and we can’t think of the finished product. We have a lot more work to do and we have to keep on getting better,” Sealy said.

Redshirt sophomore middle blocker Anna Dodson, who had 10 kills and six blocks against Arizona State, said the challenges the team faced should be viewed as a positive.

“Adversity is good for us and this is a great chance for us to learn how to deal (with it),” Dodson said. “We haven’t had this kind of a loss yet that feels like this heavy of a feeling, so this was a good chance for us to come back stronger for our next match against Oregon.”

UCLA will match up against Oregon on Friday at Pauley Pavilion.