Pac-12 | Power Rankings: Week Thirteen

Yes, it’s true: Pac-12 is the nation’s toughest conference

Pac 12 | What we learned from Washington’s win against UCLA

#5 Washington 3, #4 UCLA 2 (22-25, 30-28, 19-25, 28-26, 16-14)

next: #3 USC @ #5 Washington | Friday, September 28 | 6pm [note early start time]

Jim McLaughlin exchanged a mid-court post-match handshake with UCLA coach Mike Sealy, then strode toward the locker room tunnel.

But as the Washington head coach passed the student section, the already- raucous cheers grew louder. McLaughlin turned and pumped his fists. When students howled with appreciation, McLaughlin’s grin stretched wider, and he blew the cheering section a kiss.

Washington  coach Jim McLaughlin salutes the crowd
-Volleyblog Seattle photo by Jack Hamann

“This is a big game,” he said moments later. “These are the games that I came to Washington for. And these are the games that I recruited kids for. So, yeah, I just love this stuff.”

Volleyblog Seattle video: ·         match point ·         Jim McLaughlin press conference highlights

Make no mistake, though: McLaughlin knew darned well that this match could have gone either way.

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

Final Four: Bruins take a 2-1 lead

SAN ANTONIO--Illinois' powerful outside hitter Colleen Ward finally came alive, leading the Illini on a crucial 4-2 run, and seeming to will her team to a third set win.

But UCLA freshman Zoe Nightingale made the difference, providing great eyework and relentless net play to tap, push, kill and block the ball back against Illinois' much sturdier front line. Lots of enthusiasm, plenty of quickness. Very impressive.

Bruins' coach Mike Sealy took Rachel Kidder out of the back row; Illinois kept serving her, and he wanted to give her a rest. She responded with the set on the line, fighting off two set points, and serving the Bruins' final three points for a thrilling 26-24 win.

Attendance announced at 13,747.

Illinois' Coleen Ward (4) attacks against Lauren Van Orden and Zoe Nightengale (13)
[Volleyblog Seattle photo by Leslie Hamann]

Final Four: UCLA wins first set

SAN ANTONIO--UCLA out-served Illinois early, keeping the Illini out-of-system, and allowing the Bruins blockers to get touches or stuffs. That led to a 7-1 run in the middle of the set.

But when UCLA's Tabi Love moved to the front row, the Bruins lost the quickness they get when Rachel Kidder is in front, and the Illini moved ahead 20-18.

With Kidder back in front, setter Lauren Van Orden went her way over and over again, and it paid off, as Kidder had two of the Bruins' final three kills.

Final Four: Lessons from the semifinals

SAN ANTONIO—No conference has had as much volleyball success as the Pac-12. But the last time a Pac-12 team won the national title was 2005 … right here in San Antonio … when Washington rolled over favored Nebraska. Since then, Washington, Stanford, Cal, USC and UCLA have all reached the Final Four, but Nebraska won in 2006, and Penn State gave the Big Ten bragging rights the last four years in a row.

USC's Kendall Bateman signals while Illinois' Michelle Bartsch looks through the net
[Volleyblog Seattle photo by Leslie Hamann]

Illinois would like to repeat that feat, but they’ll have to get by the Bruins. Thursday night, UCLA thoroughly outplayed Florida State, a team which might have a hard time finishing higher than seventh in the Pac-12 (note to the NCAA Selection Committee: here’s further proof that the 16 teams you seeded included a lot of teams that you overrated—including Florida State.) If Washington hadn’t stumbled at Minnesota, it would not seem much of a stretch to see them beating both Iowa State and Florida State and making it a three-Pac-12 final.

UCLA’s strength was its speed. Outside hitter Rachael Kidder has the quickest arm of any player among the four teams in San Antonio; she often hits around the block instead of trying to tool blockers. Even when sets were poor—particularly when they were too far outside, Kidder found ways to direct sharp-angled kills rather than toss across free balls. On the right side, Kelly Reeves hit line with confidence throughout the first set, forcing FSU’s middle blockers to cover more ground than they could handle. Tabi Love is simply a pounder—she does best when setter Lauren Van Orden receives a perfect pass, and everyone in the building knows Love is simply going to cock her arm and smash. Unlike the other Bruins, Love is not terribly agile, and UCLA can sometimes get stuck in a bad rotation if Love has to hit out of transition, rather than getting time to retreat to her full approach.

Kidder’s quickness allows UCLA to launch faster, lower sets. Illinois, on the other hand, sends up soaring sets, and allows its powerful senior outside hitters Colleen Ward and Michelle Bartsch to swing away. The best way to slow that strategy is to serve tough and keep the Illini on their heels. USC kept it close throughout the match, largely on the strength of libero Natalie Hagglund’s defense and setter Kendall Bateman’s distribution. But it took a long time for All-American outside hitter Alex Jupiter to get into a groove; in the end, her poor passing, erratic serving and spotty defense gave Illinois too many free ball opportunities. Like any great team, the Illini never stopped hitting as hard as they could for as long as they could, which usually spells victory in a clash between two top teams.

Illinois is impressive. But given that their two most dominant players—Ward and Bartsch—are both seniors, those of us who follow the Pac-12 have to wonder: where was this team the past couple of years? With hitters that strong and confident, how did they manage to avoid the Final Four so long?

Saturday’s championship match will likely come down to that most basic of skills: serving and serve-receive. Whichever setter gets the most in-system opportunities will allow her team to prevail.

All-American selections snub Pac-12 & Vansant

SAN ANTONIO—As we reported yesterday, Washington’s Bianca Rowland was named a second team All-American by the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA). Rowland’s AVCA citation reads:

Bianca Rowland, a 6’0 middle blocker for the University of Washington, is a senior from Lynwood, Wash. Rowland averaged a career-best 1.50 blocks per set on the season, second in the Pac-12, and her .345 attack percentage ranked fifth in the conference. She wound up third in career blocks at UW with 492, and second in career attack percentage at.387. After making AVCA All-American honorable mention the past two seasons, this is her first time appearing on an All-American team.

Bianca Rowland
[Volleyblog Seattle photo by Leslie Hamann]

It bears mentioning that few, if any, D1 middle blockers were more efficient in the second half of the season. When the Huskies switched to a two-setter offense before the Bay Area road trip, Rowland’s offense soared, repeatedly hitting above .400, and often much higher.

Overall, the Pac-12 got just middling respect from the AVCA voters. Three USC players—outside hitter Alex Jupiter, setter Kendall Bateman and libero Natalie Hagglund—joined UCLA’s Rachel Kidder on the 14-member First Team. Jupiter was the Pac-12 player of the year, and should be among the leading 3 candidates for national player of the year.

Rowland was joined by just one other Pac-12 player on the Second Team, Cal’s talented outside hitter Tarah Murrey. USC’s Lauren Williams and Oregon’s Alaina Bergsma were named to the Third Team, for a total of 8 Pac-12 players of the 42 First, Second and Third Team All-Americans.

Pac-12 players earning honorable mention include WSU’s Meagan Ganzer, Oregon’s Lauren Plum, Stanford’s Rachel Williams and Carly Wopat.

From where we sit, the Pac-12 was given short shrift this year. I would have put Murrey on the First Team, Lauren Williams on the Second Team, and Ganzer (whose WSU coach, Jennifer Greeny is on the All-American selection committee) and Wopat on the Third Team. California—last year’s Final Four runner-up—has a lot to complain about: Correy Johnson should have made Honorable Mention, and I’d put libero Robin Rostratter on the Third Team.

Nebraska’s three honorable mentions were a bit much, particularly Lauren Cook, given her off-court troubles this season. I also question putting Texas’ Bailey Webster on the First Team and teammate Haley Eckerman on the second. Eckerman was named national Freshman of the Year.

Krista Vansant (16) and Bianca Rowland (15)
[Volleyblog Seattle photo by Leslie Hamann]

The real head-scratcher, however, is how Pac-12 Freshman of the Year—and Pacific Region Freshman of the Year—Krista Vansant was completely left off the list. C’mon, committee, really? There are four other freshmen (Texas’ Eckerman, North Carolina’s Chaniel Nelson, Marquette’s Chelsea Heier, Tenessee’s Mary Pollmiller) more deserving than the best freshman in the west?  

How did UCLA beat Washington?

If only Bianca Rowland could play the Bruins every week.

Washington’s senior middle blocker was once again unstoppable against top-ranked UCLA. Friday night, she had 14 kills on 21 attempts and no hitting errors (.667) When the Bruins were swept by the Huskies in September, Rowland put away 12 kills on 17 attacks with just one error. (.647) That’s a combined .658 … a number UCLA is unlikely to see from any other player they face this season.

It’s interesting to note that in Rowland’s Seattle match, her setter was Evan Sanders. Last night, it was Jenni Nogueras, as the Huskies continued their mid-season switch to a 6/2. In September, Kylin Muñoz and Lauren Barfield had a combined 19 kills, with 4 errors on 44 attempts. (.341) Last night, the collective line for those two was 6-5-27 (.037). That huge gap made all the difference in sets one and three, when the Huskies couldn’t convert a combined three set points, losing both sets 26-28.

It should be said that, when the Bruins went on a couple of long runs, it was outside hitter Gabbi Parker who was able to put kills to the floor to stop the streaks. She’s gaining confidence each week with her newly-earned role in the 6/2.

So how did UCLA beat Washington?

THE BRUINS WON THE SERVE/SERVE RECEIVE BATTLE

It’s a Jim McLaughlin mantra: the team with the better serve/serve receive numbers almost always wins the match.

Time and again—and particularly late in the first and third sets—UCLA’s back line sent passes within reasonable reach of their setter, Lauren Van Orden. The Huskies did not do the same, forcing Sanders and Nogueras to telegraph their sets to the outside, allowing UCLA’s defense to adjust.

The Huskies have the best serving stats in the Pac-12, and are among the best in the nation. They committed just 7 service errors Friday, but two of them came at the worst possible moment, late in sets 1 and 3.

THE BLOCKS WEREN’T THERE

Good blocking is usually a function of good serving. When the opposing setter can’t handle a pass, her options are limited, and blockers can key on just one or two hitters.

In large part, that explains why Washington—statistically the nation’s top-blocking team—had just four team blocks on the night, its worst performance of the season.

“Our serving wasn’t good, so our blocking is tougher, McLaughlin told the Seattle Times’ Terry Wood after the match. “Then when they were going outside we were hurrying and reaching and just opening up space instead of getting over the net. That was an issue that just put more pressure on us. In a tough match like this, those things are exposed. It was killing us.” [see more of McLaughlin’s post-match interview with Terry Wood here.]

The Huskies' blocks weren't there against the Bruins
[Volleyblog Seattle photo by Leslie Hamann]

UCLA didn’t get many termination blocks themselves, but Washington’s hitters—and especially Barfield—kept bouncing attacks off the blocker’s hands, sending ricochets high enough for the Bruins’ back line to pass. By contrast, UCLA’s middle hitters attacked at smarter angles, bouncing the ball to places where the Huskies’ defenders couldn’t reach them.

THE HUSKIES LOST FOCUS ON THE ROAD

Washington has lost just once at home this season (in its opening Pac-12 match, to USC.) Time and again at Hec Ed, they’ve allowed opponents to reach 20 points first, only to display enough cool and focus to come back for wins.

It’s a different story on the road. At Cal, Stanford, Oregon and UCLA, the Huskies either couldn’t close a late gap, or—repeatedly last night—couldn’t close the deal with set point in hand. While the final score read 0-3, the tiniest play or two could have made it 2-1 in the Huskies’ favor after three sets.

Most elite teams have a go-to outside hitter when the set or match is on the line—Rachel Kidder at UCLA, Alex Jupiter at USC and Tarah Murrey at Cal, to name just a few. In future seasons, the Huskies will have two such players: current freshmen Summer Ross and Krista Vansant. At the moment, Bianca Rowland is that player for the Huskies. But as a middle blocker, she’s on the sidelines for half the rotations, and can only get sets on good passes. Until Ross and Vansant have the confidence to simply take over a match, it’s up to Parker and Muñoz to step up.

UW @ UCLA: Jim McLaughlin post-match (Terry Wood)

After Washington's 0-3 (26-28, 13-25, 26-28) loss to UCLA in Westwood Friday night, Huskies Coach Jim McLaughlin spoke with the Seattle Times' Terry Wood. [Thanks to Terry for providing the transcript]:

Q: What’s your first impression?

McLaughlin: They’re a good team.

Q: Is it correct to say UW’s blocking was not so good tonight?

McLaughlin: It wasn’t effective in some areas where we’ve been good. We couldn’t stop their quick hitter. That had a little bit to do with their serving. We finally kicked it up in game three and served tougher, but our serving wasn’t good, so our blocking is tougher. Then when they were going outside we were hurrying and reaching and just opening up space instead of getting over the net. That was an issue that just put more pressure on us. In a tough match like this, those things are exposed. It was killing us.

Q: In the history of the UW-UCLA series, UCLA is now 35-5 when winning the first set and 7-14 when it loses. What is the importance of losing first match to you?

McLaughlin: It was big, but it just can’t be. Instead, it’s just got to drive us to the next game. It’s close and we don’t win it, but we had a letdown after that. Then we get going again in game three. We’ve got to mature and understand we’re in a battle. They’re playing well and we’ve got to push back at them. We didn’t do that in game two.

Q: What were the key factors that disappointed you?

McLaughlin: Serving, and we dug a lot of balls tight to the net that we just couldn’t get swings on, and UCLA dug balls off the net. I think that was the biggest factor.

Q: Why replace Jenna Orlandini with Kelly Holford at libero for the third set?

McLaughlin: Kelly’s been playing well in practice and she deserved a shot, and Jo wasn’t her normal self. I just made a change. All these kids can play.

Q: UW swept UCLA in Seattle. Why did things change here?

McLaughlin: They’re good, and we’re on their home floor. They’re just a good team.

Q: Is there a prevailing factor that has surfaced in UW’s losses to ranked teams?

McLaughlin: The ability to stay on task and stay focused on the things that tell us what to do. Just stay on task. Keep our heads in the game. If we can do that, we’ll be in better spots to put more pressure on them. Bottom line, we didn’t do it for a long enough period of time.

Q: Bianca Rowland had a good night, (14-0-21, .667).

McLaughlin: She came up to me in the last game [vs. Arizona] and said she wanted to be in there the whole time and wanted to start in the match. I love it when kids say that and do that, and she answered it.

She played well. That’s a good sign.

Q: Are you getting production you need from your young OHs?

McLaughlin: They’re learning how to play. They’re learning how to take better swings. Digging the ball and then converting the ball is the deal in a good, tight match like this. UCLA converted off our block better than we did [off theirs].

Q: Is it tough to stop a powerful hitter like UCLA’s Rachel Kidder?

McLaughlin: You can’t stop her. You just have to get in good spots, have discipline and slow her down. Take advantage of the opportunities that they do give us. We had some good swings. We just didn’t put it away. We’ve got to do that.

Huskies, Bruins & Trojans atop conference & national stats

After last weekend’s scramble—in both the Pac-12 and nationally—the Washington Huskies have a chance to gain ground on the conference leaders.

UCLA and USC each have two losses; Washington, Cal and Stanford each have four. If the Huskies can manage a sweep, they’ll inch ever closer to the top of the nation’s toughest conference.

All five schools are nationally ranked in the top 10: #1 UCLA, #3 Stanford, #4 USC, #7 Cal & #10 Washington. Naturally, those schools also dominate the conference team and individual stats.

Washington leads in three team categories: Opponent Hitting Percentage, Blocks and Service Aces. USC is tops in Hitting Percentage and Kills. Overall, the top four in every team category includes the Huskies, Bruins and/or Trojans:

Nationally (318 Division 1 teams), Washington is first in blocks/set and 17^th in aces/set. USC is 5^th and UCLA 13^th in assists/set. The Trojans are 4^th and the Bruins are 17^th in kills/set. USC is 7^th in hitting percentage. For some reason, the NCAA doesn’t report opponent hitting percentage, but Washington is undoubtedly in the top ten, if not the national leader. It certainly leads all other ranked teams:

Washington's impressive stats: do they matter?

Five of the nation's top six teams this week are members of the Pac-12 … and a sixth—#15 Oregon—is the only Pac-12 team without a conference loss. There can be little argument which league is the nation's best.

It bears noting, then, that Washington leads the Pac-12 in three crucial statistical categories: Best offensive hitting percentage (.303); lowest opponent hitting percentage (.115), and most service aces per set (2.06). UW is second in the league in most blocks per set (3.04). The aces per set is tops in the entire nation (320 Division 1 schools); the offensive hitting percentage is second best (trailing only Michigan State), and the blocking stat is sixth in the nation. The NCAA does not report lowest opponent hitting percentage.

So, are these numbers important? And what do they mean?

SoCal teams dominate NorCal

Cal and Stanford marched into the weekend rated the nation’s top two Division 1 women’s volleyball teams. #1 Cal—last season’s national runner-up—was undefeated; #2 Stanford’s only loss was to Cal.

#7 UCLA and (ridiculously under-ranked) #12 USC were the host schools. Earlier today, USC blanked Stanford 3-0, by the barest of margins (25-23, 26-24, 25-23), less than 24 hours after sweeping Cal 3-0.

UCLA took five sets Friday night to defeat Stanford, then won the first two sets tonight against Cal (25-17, 25-20).Cal came storming back to take the third set, 25-19, but the Bruins rolled in the decisive fourth and final set, jumping to a 16-4 lead before winning 25-15. UCLA’s Rachel Kidder did not match her Stanford match numbers … she had 12 kills and 8 errors on 45 swings (.089). As usual, Tarah Murrey carried the load for Cal with 18 kills, 5 errors (.210).

#15 Oregon remains the only undefeated Pac-12 team after sweeping Utah tonight. The Ducks have just one loss (Minnesota) on the season, but have yet to play UCLA, USC, Cal, Stanford or Washington. They’ll be in Seattle this Friday.

Oregon State also continues its dominance over the lower half of the league with a 3-0 shellacking of Colorado.

On Sunday, Washington visits Arizona State, and WSU plays at Arizona.

How did Washington beat UCLA?

This was no small victory. UW was hurting from its disappointing sweep at the hands of USC; UCLA was riding high after road victories against Long Beach State, Ohio State, Hawai’i, USC and WSU. Many at Hec Ed were hoping for a five-set match, assuming that’s what it would take to beat the Bruins.

Here, then, are the top five reasons the Huskies beat UCLA:

5. THEY CLOSED THE DEAL.

In Friday’s loss to USC, the Huskies let each of the three sets slip away at the end: The Trojans scored the final 4 points of set 1 (25-20), the final 2 points of set 2 (28-26) and 5 of the final 6 in set 3 (25-20). That’s a combined 11-1 collapse at crunch time.

Whenever both teams have reached at least 20 points, coach Jim McLaughlin wants his team to jump high and hit hard. Against USC, there were too many wasted out-of-system shots, and the Trojans made the Huskies pay. Toward the end of the crucial first set against the Bruins, UW pounded the ball at every opportunity, led by Bianca Rowland with 3 late kills, two on slides. During that first set, fans witnessed one of the most classic college volleyball sets in recent memory.

When the Bruins threatened late in the third set, it was Lauren Barfield and Krista Vansant who stepped up to seal the deal.

4. THEY KEPT ‘EM GUESSING.

Evan Sanders’ first set of the night was a backset to Summer Ross, good for a right side cross-court kill. The second kill came from Kylin Muñoz, the third from Vansant, the fourth from Rowland. For the match, Sanders’ distribution was about the same as the previous night, but she did a much better job disguising her targets, keeping the Bruins’ blockers and diggers guessing until the last moment. The senior transfer (Colorado State) could still get more balls to the right side and the back row, but she looked as if she’s more comfortable wheeling and dealing at a Pac-12 level.

3. THEY ELIMINATED ERRORS

The Huskies had 6 hitting errors in the first set, 4 by Vansant. From then on, the entire team committed just 4 hitting errors total —none at all in the second set. Those are eye-popping numbers, especially since two of the three errors in Barfield’s column were instances where she made an extra effort to save a poor pass, dig or set.

UW got many more kills than usual by tooling the Bruins (hitting off the block.) In particular, Muñoz was unafraid of UCLA’s long-armed blockers … and unwilling to send predictable shots cross-court to the waiting libero. For the match she had just one error with her 13 kills (.429). Rowland had 12 kills on just one error on 17 attacks … a dizzying .647 clip after hitting .080 the night before. Vansant (.182) added 10 kills, half of them in the first set.

Washington's Bianca Rowland (15) attacks against the block of UCLA's Priscilla Ezeji (24) and Sara Sage (4)
[Volleyblog Seattle photo by Leslie Hamann]

2. THEY PASSED NAILS