UCLA Women’s Volleyball Swept by UC Berkeley; Faces #2 Stanford Today

This afternoon, the UCLA women’s Volleyball team will host the #2 Stanford Cardinal at Pauley Pavilion. Start time for the match is 4 pm PT.

Last Time Out

On Friday night, as the Bruin football team was getting crushed by Utah, the UCLA women’s volleyball team was swept by UC Berkeley at home, 22-25, 15-25, 22-25. Overall, that’s pretty sad. UC Berkeley isn’t a particularly good team, but, somehow, the Bruins managed to get swept by the Bears at home. UCLA is now just 6-5 in Pac-12 play.

In the first set, UCLA had the lead as late as 20-19, but the Bruins couldn’t close out the set like so many other times this season. The Golden Bears took 6 of the final 8 points to win this set 25-22.

The second set was even worse. UCLA started the set by winning 6 of the first 7 points and they still led by five at 9-4. But, from that point, UCLA suddenly became incapable of scoring on consecutive rallies. Meanwhile, the Golden Bears rattled off six points in a row to take a 10-9 lead. They also had two 5-0 runs to make it 16-11 and later 23-14 before taking the final two points to win the set 25-15.

The third set was more of the same. UCLA started with a 7-3 lead and still led by four as late as 11-7. A 5-0 run by the Bears gave UC Berkeley their first lead of the set at 12-11. Berkeley was able to stretch that to a four-point lead at 19-15, but the Bruins finally showed some fight as they went on a 6-0 run of their own to retake the lead, 21-19. UCLA maintained a two-point lead as the teams exchanged points to make it 22-20. And, then, the Bruins went flat again as the Bears finished off the set and the match on a 5-0 run, 25-22.

And, just like that, the Bruins now appear to be heading into a tailspin after being swept in the last two matches and there doesn’t appear to be any relief in sight with the #2 Stanford Cardinal coming to Pauley this afternoon.

Stanford Cardinal

The Cardinal come to Westwood today with 19-1 record which includes a 17-match winning streak. They haven’t lost since they faced BYU in Provo on August 31.

And, it’s not like things have been very close either. No team has won more than a set against the Cardinal since their streak began.

In short, Stanford has dominated the competition. They have only lost four sets in 11 Pac-12 matches.

Outlook

Considering how UCLA has played their last two matches, I will be shocked if the Bruins win a set today. Stanford swept the Bruins at home last month and I have no reason to believe it will be any different today.

In fact, I will be surprised if the Bruins are able to score 20 points in any set today.

This is your UCLA women’s volleyball vs. Stanford Cardinal open thread.


Go Bruins.