UCLA Women’s Volleyball Hosts Baylor in NCAA 2nd Round

Last night, Murray State raced to a fast 4-1 lead in the first set. While the Bruins would tie the score twice, they would never have a lead in it and Murray State would take the first set 25-21.

In the second set, UCLA scored the first three points, five of the first six and nine of the first eleven points. The Racers would eventually tie the set at 17-17. But, the Bruins would finish the set much like they started. They won eight of the final nine points to win the set 25-18.

After the break, Murray State won the first point of the third set, but the Bruins took the next five, giving them a 5-1 lead. The Racers then went on a 3-0 mini-run to close the gap to just one point. That would be as close as they’d get as UCLA scored eight of the next ten points to take a 13-6 lead. From there, the Racers got as close as four points twice, but that was the best they could do and UCLA took the third set 25-15.

The teams split the first ten points of the fourth set. After the Racers scored two points to take a 7-5 lead, the Bruins went on an unbelieveable 20-2 run to close out the fourth set and the match by a score of 25-9.

Reily Buechler led the Bruins with 21 kills while Jordan Anderson and Claire Felix had 12 and 11 kills, respectively. Kylie Miller added 24 assists and Ryann Chandler had 22. Taylor Formico had 26 digs. The Bruins outhit the Racers .333 to .156.

The win advances UCLA to the 2nd Round of the NCAA Women’s Volleyball tournament tonight against Baylor, who defeated the University of San Diego 16-25, 25-18, 17-25, 25-20 and 15-13.

The win by Baylor prevented a rematch of UCLA’s first loss this season which came against San Diego on September 10th.

Baylor is led by junior Katie Staiger who leads the team with 5.53 kills per set. That’s more than 40% of the team’s kills. Senior Morgan Reed averages 10.32 assists per set. So, look for the Bears to move the ball from Reed to Staiger. If the Bruins can stop Staiger, they will stop Baylor since Staiger averages more kills per set than next two Bears combined. If the Bruins can’t stop Staiger, their season might end tonight.

Hopefully, Coach Sealy has figured out a way to stop Staiger and get the Bruins another win.

#10-Seed UCLA Women's Volleyball (25-6, 15-5 Pac-12 Conference)

Opponent: Baylor Bears (22-11, 9-7 Big 12 Conference)

When: 7pm PT, Saturday, December 3, 2016

Where: Pauley Pavilion, Los Angeles, CA

TV: None

Stream: Pac-12.com and the Pac-12 Now App

Audio: uclabruins.com

Live Stats: NCAA GameTracker


Official Game Preview


Go Bruins!!!