Despite having their best player ““ senior Lauren Fendrick
““ on the bench due to a team rules violation, the UCLA
women’s volleyball team rolled over a woefully outmatched
Oregon State team, taking the match three games to none.
The Bruins opened the first game sluggishly, obviously
uncomfortable in both their starting lineup and formation. Three
players, including walk-on freshman Terryn Spragg, had not started
a game yet this year.
To further complicate things, the team started the match in a
5-1 formation (using a single setter), as opposed to their normal
6-2 (using two setters). Clearly the players were uneasy with each
other at the start.
That uneasiness was reflected in their play early on when they
had seven service errors. They were equally poor defensively as the
Bruins let the Beavers hit at a .289 clip. But despite their best
efforts, the Bruins still managed to win the game 35-33.
After that, there was little resistance from the Beavers.
“We’re a lot more comfortable with the 6-2
formation. Once we went back to that, the game flowed a lot
better,” redshirt sophomore Krystal McFarland said.
UCLA Head Coach Andy Banachowski felt that once his team cut
down on the mental errors, OSU couldn’t keep up with his
superior squad.
“We played tentatively in the first game,” he said.
“After that, we were just bigger and fresher.”
The Bruins came on strong towards the end of the second game,
winning 30-22. UCLA carried their momentum into the third game,
completely obliterating Oregon State 30-18.
In that game, the Beavers had only nine kills next to
UCLA’s 18. They also had nine errors to the Bruins’
four. Quite simply, UCLA completely dominated all aspects of the
match.
Making her first career start, Spragg played extremely well,
notching eight kills, seven digs.
“It was really exciting for me,” Spragg said.
“All the girls were really supportive; it felt
good.”
Next up for UCLA are the Oregon Ducks. The Bruins own a 35-1
all-time record against the Ducks, and if they can continue their
momentum after this dominating win, there is little reason to
believe that Oregon can pull off the upset.
UCLA begins play at 7 p.m. tonight. The game will be broadcast
live on the internet at www.uclabruins.com.