UCLA Women’s Volleyball Falls to Colorado, Hosts #13 Utah Utes Tonight

This evening, the #23 UCLA women’s volleyball team hosts the #16 Utah Utes at 5 pm PT at Pauley Pavilion. The Bruins are looking to get back on track after being swept by the Colorado Buffaloes on Thursday.

Last Time Out

So much for my volleyball prognostication skills. I thought the Bruins would easily beat the Buffs and it turns out they were swept instead, 21-25, 26-28, 22-25.

Mac May led the Bruins with 20 kills and, now, she is just three kills shy of 1,000 for her UCLA career. Devon Chang led the team with 19 assists while Cali Thompson added 14. Savvy Simo notched 15 digs during the match.

In the first set, Colorado jumped out to an early 7-2 lead, but the Bruins slowly clawed their way back in and, eventually, tied the set up at 17-17. A 5-1 run by Colorado sealed the deal on the set as the Bruins were unable to score on consecutive volleys for the remainder of the set.

The second set started like the first as the Buffs took an 8-3 lead early, but UCLA came charging back and took their first lead at 11-10. The teams battled it out the rest of the way, but UCLA’s last lead came at 19-18. After that, the last tie came at 26-26. The Buffs were able to piece together two consecutive points at that point to win the set, 28-26.

After Colorado took a quick 1-0 lead in the third set, UCLA went on a 6-1 run, but the Buffs came back to tie the set, 11-11. A 4-1 run by the Bruins made it 15-12. UCLA still held on to the lead when it was 19-16, but a 4-0 Buffs run gave Colorado the lead for good. After that, UCLA could not score on consecutive rallies and the Buffs went on to win 25-22.

Utah Utes

The Utes swept the Bruins 3-0 when the teams met a month ago. Since then, the Utes have gone 5-3 just like UCLA. Honestly, there’s no reason to think that the Bruins are going to be able to get past the Utes tonight. In fact, I would be surprised if UCLA can win a set against Utah tonight.

I hope I’m wrong and I probably will be. After all, I predicted the Bruins would sweep the Buffs on Thursday.

This is your UCLA women’s volleyball open thread.


Go Bruins!!!