For a little while, it looked as if the Bruins had one more upset in them.
But the UCLA women’s volleyball team, which beat a fair number of national contenders in the regular season, couldn’t gut out another unlikely victory, losing 3-1 to No. 9-seed Texas in a second-round NCAA Tournament match to end its season.
UCLA forced a 1-1 tie in Saturday’s match at Gregory Gymnasium in Austin, Texas, and looked to be in control of the match. Coach Mike Sealy said the Bruins’ ball control and ability to run a smooth offense against the Longhorn block kept the match close in the first two sets. Texas finished the match with eight blocks, while UCLA wasn’t far behind with six.
The third set turned the tide in the Longhorns’ favor. Up 5-0, UCLA allowed an 8-2 Texas run which gave the Longhorns an 8-7 lead. The Longhorns would hold onto the lead and win the third easily, 25-18.
“Unfortunately, when the third set came about, they started serving tougher. Our passing kind of disappeared,” Sealy said.
With his team trailing 4-0 in the third, Longhorns coach Jerritt Elliott replaced starting junior setter Michelle Kocher with freshman Hannah Allison. Sealy said the move reenergized Texas’ offense.
“What they always say in volleyball ““ if a player’s struggling, you substitute him,” Sealy said. “If the whole team is struggling, you substitute the setter. It just kind of gave them a reset, gave them a new rhythm. They could forget about what’s been happening.”
In a fourth set that ended up being UCLA’s last stand, the Bruins forced a 24-24 tie, but consecutive Texas kills won the set and match.
Sophomore opposite Rachael Kidder led UCLA with 22 kills after struggling in a first-round win over American University on Friday because of a sprained ankle she suffered in practice last week. Senior outside hitter Dicey McGraw added 18 kills in her last match as a Bruin.
The match ended a season that began a new chapter in the long history of UCLA women’s volleyball. After legendary coach Andy Banachowski retired and setter Lauren Cook and middle blocker Amanda Gil transferred, Sealy took the reins. He knows what it will take to write his own legacy.
“We have to get bigger and stronger,” Sealy said. “The majority of that is going to come in the weight room and just the recruiting efforts of the program. We can’t rely on being a small ball-control team if we want to win the national championship.”
For junior libero Lainey Gera, the season was all about silencing doubts.
“It wasn’t rebuilding. We still went out and did everything we could, and we got better every day. … We proved many people wrong, and that’s just a great thing on our part,” Gera said.
McGraw, the team’s leader in both passion and kills, ended her Bruin career with a loss but also a memorable effort.
“It was a great volleyball game,” McGraw said. “Obviously it’s a bummer that it didn’t go in our favor, but it was great volleyball all night long. It was a great way to end my career.”