FanPost

Women's Volleyball - LMU Tournament Day 2 Preview and Game Thread

When: Saturday, August 30, 11:00 AM PDT (Game 2), 7:30 PM PDT (Game 3)

Where: Gersten Pavilion, Loyola Marymount University

Audio: Bruins Live Audio

Video: LMU Video

Live Stats: Here

The Bruins play a doubleheader today in the second and final day of the Concourse Hotel at LAX Classic at Loyola Marymount. After sweeping Binghamton yesterday evening, UCLA faces a much stiffer challenge in the early game today when they meet the LIU Brooklyn Blackbirds. The Blackbirds were the Northeast Conference tournament champions last year and earned an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. LIU Brooklyn finished the season with a 23-8 record, and they were a perfect 14-0 in conference play. However, LMU handled the Blackbirds easily (3-0) in the opening tournament match for both teams yesterday, which says more about the quality of NEC volleyball than the strength of the LMU Lions.

Like the Bruins, the Lions had a disappointing 2013 season. LMU slumped to a 14-14 record just one year removed from an NCAA tournament appearance. The Lions were formidable at home though, compiling a solid 11-4 record, so the Bruins will have to overcome LMU's substantial home court advantage in the tournament finale. In last season's DoubleTree Los Angeles Westside Invitational at Gersten Pavilion, the Bruins defeated the Lions 3-1, so recent history is in UCLA's favor.

In UCLA's opening match victory, freshman Olga Strantzali made an impressive debut, collecting 16 kills with no errors in attack. Freshman Reilly Buechler contributed a well-rounded performance in her UCLA debut with 10 kills and seven digs. Two other newcomers--setter Julie Consani and libero Taylor Formico--started their UCLA careers with solid play; Consani had 26 assists and Formico chipped in with 16 digs. Karsta Lowe continued her elite play from last season with 8 kills from 10 attempts in the first two sets. Claire Felix featured as a middle blocker yesterday, which seems to be Coach Sealy's plan for her this season. It will be interesting to see how quickly she can make the transition to playing in the middle.

If the Bruins are going to bounce back from the disappointment of their 2013 season, they need to win early in the season to build momentum and confidence for Pac-12 play. Two wins today are crucial then if the Bruins hope to re-establish their reputation this year as a west coast powerhouse in women's volleyball.

Go BRUINS!

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of BruinsNation's (BN) editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan though, which is as important as the views of BN's editors.

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