Pac-12 | How Washington and UCLA compare

#4 UCLA @ #5 Washington | Wednesday, September 25 | 7pm

Last season, UCLA rolled into Seattle with a 9-1 record. The Bruins had scored impressive road wins against Long Beach State, Ohio State, Hawai’i, USC and Washington State. No one realized at the time that new coach Mike Sealy would lead UCLA to the 2011 National Title.

Washington, on the other hand, had looked terrible the night before, swept aside by USC to suffer its first loss of the season. In crunch time, Washington had been outscored a combined 11-1 at the end of each of the sets.

But, the next night against the Bruins, it was Washington that prevailed, in decisive fashion. As we reported at the time, the Huskies served big-time, passed nails and eliminated errors. Kylin Muñoz had one of the biggest matches of her career (13 kills, .429) and then-freshman Krista Vansant overcame early jitters to contribute ten big kills.

In particular, the first frame was a set to remember, as 74% of all points that set came from successful attacks (19 kills for Washington, 18 kills for UCLA). In the end, it was a 3-0 Washington sweep.

UCLA's Kelly Reeves (L) passes during UCLA's 2011 loss at Washington
-Volleyblog Seattle photo by Leslie Hamann

Washington graduated middle blocker Bianca Rowland from that team, and right-side hitter Summer Ross left the indoor game to play beach at Pepperdine. But the core of the Washington team is back to face the Bruins.

If anything, the Huskies look stronger, with the return of middle Amanda Gil, who will face her former team for the first time since transferring from UCLA after the 2009 season. Vansant is continuing her rise to one of the conference’s elite hitters. And—with coach Jim McLaughlin’s decision to stick with the 6-2 offense—he has two hot, hot right-side hitters in Muñoz and Kaleigh Nelson.

The Bruins, however, are also loaded with returners. Rachael Kidder gets much of the ink, but can be hot and cold. The real weapons, in our humble opinion, are often hitter Kelly Reeves and middle Zoe Nightingale. Both play with joy and abandon, and each has the ability to seemingly ignore the opponent and simply get the job done. In the Bruins’ 0-3 loss at USC, their passing was shaky, especially at libero, and the team is fighting inconsistency and injury to replace graduated setter Lauren Van Orden.

The Bruins’ greatest strength may be that they don’t rattle easily. Coach Sealy projects some of the quiet calm that is Coach McLaughlin’s trademark. The Huskies would do well to neutralize the Bruins’ ability to look forward, not back, by doing the same thing themselves.

This one could go five sets. And, with Washington students finally starting classes, the size and volume of the home crowd could offer an edge once either team reaches 20 points.

NOTES:

• #5 Washington (11-0), #2 Oregon and #11 BYU are the only three remaining undefeated teams (out of 328) in Division 1.
• Washington ranks fifth in the nation in blocks/set (3.07), led by Gil’s 1.29/set. The Huskies are sixth nationally in hitting percentage (.318), led by Nelson (.401) and Muñoz (.387). And UW is eighteenth nationally in service aces (1.66/set), led by Katy Beals (0.41/set).
• UCLA is eighth in the nation in hitting percentage (.299), led by Karsta Lowe (.391) and Tabi Love (.332). The Bruins are 21^st in blocking (2.83/set) with Nightingale recording 1.24/set. They rank 33^rd in both kills/set (14.2) and assists/set (13.2).

Washington (11-0)		Pac-12
W	†Boise St.	(25-19, 25-17, 25-21)
W	†Gonzaga	(25-21, 25-17, 25-20)
W	†Portland St	(25-19, 25-18, 25-16)
W	†#7 Purdue [@ Baton Rouge]	(25-21, 25-17, 25-9)
W	†@ LSU	(25-21, 25-20, 25-22)
W	†Rice [@ Baton Rouge]	(25-21, 25-21, 25-22)
W	†Seattle U	(25-15, 25-10, 25-21)
W	†Long Beach St	(25-21, 25-20, 25-23)
W	†@ Portland	(25-16, 25-21, 25-22)
W	†Washington St	(25-20, 27-29, 25-14, 27-25)
W	†@ Arizona	(25-16, 25-23, 18-25, 25-23)
	UCLA	9/26
	USC	9/28
	@ Utah	10/5
	@ Colorado	10/7
UCLA (9-2)		Pac-12
W	Notre Dame [@ Lincoln]	(25-17, 18-25, 25-23, 25-19)
L	@ #5 Nebraska (8/25)	(20-25, 23-25, 25-23, 25-19, 13-15)
L	Jiangsu, China	[25-22, 25-23, 22-25, 14-25, 10-15)
W	Northeastern [@ UCSB]	(25-21, 25-18,25-21)
W	@ UC Santa Barbara	(21-25, 25-20, 25-17, 25-19)
W	Idaho [@ Honolulu]	(25-16, 25-13, 25-13)
W	San Diego St [@ Honolulu]	(25-11, 25-20, 25-18)
W	@ #8 Hawai’i	(28-30, 25-16, 25-17, 25-21)
W	#19 Pepperdine	(25-14, 25-15, 25-22)
W	@ Colorado St	(25-20, 22-25, 25-21, 13-25, 15-10)
L	†@ #2 USC	(26-28, 20-25, 26-24, 17-25)
W	†Oregon St	(25-14, 25-18, 25-17)
	@ Washington	9/26
	@ Washington State	9/28
	Arizona St	10/5
	Arizona	10/7

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WRITTEN BY Jack Hamann | PHOTOS BY Leslie Hamann

www.nolittlethings.com

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