UCLA women’s volleyball defeats Washington State, serves up 6th straight home win

The last time the Bruins faced the Cougars, it took 39 kills from Mac May to secure the win.

This time, however, the graduate student outside hitter/opposite only needed 22.

No. 16 UCLA women’s volleyball (16-3, 9-2 Pac-12) avoided an upset and defeated No. 22 Washington State (13-8, 7-4) on Friday night in Pauley Pavilion. Similar to their first match versus the Cougars this season on Oct. 3, the Bruins were pushed to five sets and May led the team in kills.

Despite being the team’s leading scorer, May said freshman outside/opposite hitter Charitie Luper also left a presence on the court.

“Having Charitie out there, she carries a big load for us which is amazing,” May said. She just does her thing and obviously, it’s incredible that she’s just on this team. We really missed her last time.”

Luper was unavailable for UCLA’s earlier matchup against Washington State in Pullman, which paved the way for May to finish with the second-most kills ever by a UCLA women’s volleyball player. Back in the lineup Friday, the freshman took the court for all five sets and trailed the graduate student’s kill total by one, finishing with 21 such attacks on a .333 hitting percentage.

The 21 kills also marked a career high for Luper.

“Mac and Charitie took a lot of swings against a well-formed block and just really attacked smart, fast and high and got a lot of great kills,” said coach Michael Sealy.

Like they did in Pullman, the Bruins found themselves in a 2-1 hole after three sets. The Cougars, which rank third in the Pac-12 in points per set during conference play, fell 25-21 in the first frame but took back the advantage with a 25-23 and 25-22 second and third set, respectively.

Despite Washington State’s ability to score, Sealy said it was UCLA’s inability to close out sets that put his team at a disadvantage.

“We had a free ball situation to go up 22-19 in the second set,” Sealy said. “We didn’t take care of it and now it’s 21-20. One tiny play like that is a huge momentum swing.”

Late in the second set, the Bruins responded with a kill from senior outside hitter/opposite élan McCall to extend their lead back up to two points. Beyond that point, however, the set belonged to the Cougars.

Behind two block assists and a kill from middle blocker Magda Jehlárová, Washington State rattled off a 5-1 run to capture the set and tie the match up. Jehlárová, who also had a game-high in blocks in the last meeting between the two teams, ended the night with six block assists to pair with 13 kills.

“(Jehlárová’s) a huge block,” May said. “We just make sure to give ourselves enough space to take a practical swing against her, because she’s just going to do her thing.

The Cougar middle blocker leads the Pac-12 in blocks per set in conference play. May was rejected by Jehlárová on three occasions Saturday en route to a game-high 10 attacking errors.

In the fifth set, following a May service error to cut UCLA’s lead to 13-11, Luper blasted a kill across the net for match point, following with a solo block on the ensuing point to seal the win. Both points came at Jehlárová’s expense, who picked up a blocking error and an attack error at the hands of Luper.

“(Luper) is such a fiery player. She kind of scares me sometimes – a little bit,” said graduate student setter Shelby Martin. “She is so aggressive and she’s so calm at the same time, and she’s such a reliable hitter to give the balls to.”

Following the victory, the Bruins extended their undefeated home record to 6-0 and grabbed their sixth win over an AVCA ranked team on the season.

With nine matches to play in the regular season, Sealy said the level of competition is rising.

“The whole Pac-12 is much better now than last time,” Sealy said.

UCLA will complete its four-match homestand against No. 8 Washington on Sunday at 4 p.m.