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Tristin Savage leads UCLA women’s volleyball to conference win over Oregon State

Redshirt senior middle blocker Tristin Savage and junior outside hitter/opposite Iman Ndiaye get a block. The two got a combined 10 blocks throughout the match, and Savage got the start for the first time in her career. (Mattias de los Rios Rogers/Daily Bruin)

Women's Volleyball


Oregon State0
UCLA3

By Leila Bivins

Oct. 15, 2022 3:55 p.m.

After four years riding the bench, redshirt senior middle blocker Tristin Savage posted the best night of her career.

Behind Savage’s five blocks to lead the match, UCLA women’s volleyball (9-7, 3-4 Pac-12) swept Oregon State (6-11,1-6) on Friday evening in the Pauley Pavilion for its third consecutive win in conference play.

Savage made her first appearance as a starter with a kill to start off the scoring for UCLA. Sophomore middle blocker Francesca Alupei, who usually starts for UCLA in the middle position, is out for the remainder of the season because of an undisclosed injury, according to coach Michael Sealy.

Savage established her spot as a starter by scoring the first point of each set for the Bruins and a career-high six kills.

Sealy said more appearances of Savage at the starting position are to be expected this year.

“As of right now, she and Anna (redshirt junior middle blocker Anna Dodson) are the only two middles cleared,” Sealy said. “Tristin did a great job of coming in and not having started a match her whole career and being great from the get-go.”

UCLA trailed closely behind Oregon State for much of the first set, tying the score 10 times before taking the lead at 16-15.

Two kills by graduate student outside hitter/opposite élan McCall brought the score to 19-16 and caused the first Oregon State timeout.

UCLA continued applying pressure, with Savage gaining her third block of the set and junior outside hitter/opposite Iman Ndiaye picking up a kill to bring the score to 22-17, causing a second Oregon State timeout. Two attack errors from the Beavers closed out the set for the Bruins.

The second set began, once again, with a block by Savage – her fourth of the night. McCall notched five kills in the set to help the Bruins move one set closer to victory, and UCLA saw only one hitting error through the set – down from eight in set one.

An ace from Dodson and four kills from the Bruins closed out the second set.

While the blue and gold emerged from the set victorious, they struggled with maintaining possession of the ball and getting a substantial lead. The longest point run that the blue and gold managed in the second set was three points.

“I think it’s very hard to get in a rhythm when that happens,” McCall said. “But we just tell ourselves next ball, first ball, side out. Even if it doesn’t happen, same thing next time.”

UCLA continued to struggle with maintaining a wide lead in the third set but still remained ahead of the Beavers for all but one point of the game.

Savage opened the third set with her third kill of the night and went on to have a three-point run of her own. With a pair of kills and a block, Savage ultimately brought the score to 11-9.

“Me and Sealy had a competition of who could have the most fun tonight,” Savage said. “And I was like, I’m beating him. And I did.”

McCall continued to lead the match in kills by racking up six in the frame, a pair of which were the closing two points of the game. McCall not only led the match in hitting with 14 kills but also led overall in scoring with 15 points.

The Bruins closed the final set 25-20, marking its third win of conference play and first win in Pauley Pavilion this season.

“We need to clean it up,” Sealy said. “ We were pretty loose tonight as far as not taking care of some easy situations we had, and Oregon’s not going to give you that many easy situations. So we’re going to have to be better at finalizing and terminating plays.”

UCLA is set to face No. 17 Oregon on Sunday at 2 p.m. in Pauley Pavilion.

 

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Leila Bivins | Sports contributor
Bivins is currently a Sports contributor on the men's volleyball beat.
Bivins is currently a Sports contributor on the men's volleyball beat.
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