UCLA Women’s Volleyball Faces Pacific In Hawai’i

Tonight, the UCLA Women’s Volleyball team is in Hawai’i to play the first of three matches in the Hawaiian Airlines Wahine Volleyball Classic in Honolulu.

On the heels of three wins in three matches last weekend in the LMU Invitational, the Bruins moved up four spots to number eight in this week’s AVCA Top 25 Coaches Poll.

In tonight’s match, the team will face the Pacific University Tigers. Overall, the series between UCLA and Pacific is close at least on paper with the Bruins have a 13-12 edge overall. Pacific’s last win over UCLA came all the way back on November 25, 1989.

That was my freshman year in Westwood and that team was led by Elaine Youngs, Natalie Williams and Samantha Shaver.

Yeah, it was a long time ago.

Popular Westwood establishments like Stratton’s and Rimini’s Pizza were around then as was Hamburger Hamlet. Ah, the good ol’ days. But, I digress.

While the Bruins have won the last five meetings, the two teams haven’t met since 2000. So, they aren’t exactly familiar with one another.

This year’s Bruins’ team looks good so far.

Junior Jenny Frager is 10th in the nation with a .562 hitting percentage and teammate Clare Felix would be tied with her but she doesn’t have enough attempts to be ranked nationally. With 4.95 points per set, Reily Buechler is 45th in the country. Meanwhile, Taylor Formico is second in the conference with 4.7 digs per set and Ryann Chandler is eighth in the conference with 8.8 assists per set.

Last weekend’s sweep of the LMU Invitational was the right way to start off the season. Let’s hope the team can keep the momentum going in Hawai’i.

There’s no streaming video or audio for tonight’s match, but live stats will be available.

Finally, we want to encourage the team to stay safe as it appears Hurricane Lester will likely hit Oahu sometime on Saturday.

Go Bruins!