Women’s volleyball sets up for midseason success, learns from Arizona defeat

The Bruins approach midseason tied for first in the Pac-12.

No. 17 UCLA women’s volleyball (13-3, 6-2 Pac-12) will play No. 16 Oregon (14-4, 5-3) on Friday and Oregon State (3-15, 1-7) on Sunday. Both matches will be played at home in Pauley Pavilion.

The blue and gold sports a conference record of 6-2, which has it first in the conference but is matched by three other squads – Washington, Washington State and Stanford. In their previous matchups this season against those teams, the Bruins defeated the Cougars and Cardinal in five sets but fell to the Huskies in five.

UCLA saw an end to its four-match winning streak last Sunday, after getting reverse swept by unranked Arizona State. The Bruins were outhit .241 to .194 and committed 11 receiving errors to the Sun Devils’ six.

Graduate student outside hitter/opposite Mac May said one positive takeaway from the defeat was gaining a better understanding of her team’s weaknesses.

“We have a lot of room to improve,” May said. “Sometimes when you go on a winning streak, it starts to seem like we are good to go, but it is going to be a long season in the Pac-12 and beyond, so we need to continue to polish up on our side.”

Redshirt sophomore middle blocker Anna Dodson also said the defeat serves as a learning experience.

“I think that the adversity is good for us and that this is a great chance for us to learn how to deal,” Dodson said. “We haven’t had this kind of a loss yet, that feels this heavy.”

Oregon ranks just behind UCLA in the Pac-12 standings with a 5-3 conference record. The Ducks’ strength lies in digging and blocking, as they rank first in the conference with 16.16 digs per set and second with 2.73 blocks per set.

As for what to expect from the Bruins, coach Michael Sealy said he expects more opportunities to arise for sophomore setter Kate Lane – who made her conference-play debut during the fourth and fifth sets against Arizona State – and notched a kill, two assists, a block and a dig.

Oregon State, which will face UCLA on Sunday, currently sits second-to-last on the Pac-12 leaderboard. The Beavers have been swept in seven of eight interconference matches this year, with their lone victory being a 3-0 win over California.

Regardless of the opponent, however, Sealy said he warns his team against looking too deeply into current records.

“I never have expectations,” Sealy said. “Our expectation is to show up and do the best we can, whatever that looks like. Our record will not help us.”

Friday’s match will begin at 7 p.m., while Sunday’s will start at noon.