Few songs on the radio today are more applicable to volleyball than Lil Wayne’s “6 Foot 7 Foot,” for obvious reasons. The song blasted through the speakers in Collins Court on Saturday night as No. 6 UCLA watched their opponents from Utah warm up.
Inspired by Weezy or perhaps a less-tangible influence, the Bruins played larger than life this weekend; the miniature volleyballs they tossed into the raucous crowd during player introductions only added to the image.
UCLA started off their weekend with a 3-1 victory over the Colorado Buffaloes on Friday night and followed that with a sweep of Utah the following night.
Friday’s match started out in the usual fashion for the Bruins ““ they won the first two sets handily. However, they stumbled in the third set, dropping it 19-25 to the Buffaloes before coming back to win the fourth set by a narrow margin of 25-23.
The team found themselves in a similar situation on Saturday ““ they came out on fire, and it looked like Utah was about to roll over after losing the first two sets.
But with their backs against the wall, the Utes looked like a different team coming out of the locker room, getting out to an early 12-7 lead in the third set. After going down 6-2, coach Mike Sealy called a time-out and brought his players over to the bench.
“He was calm, talking more technical stuff, not really trying to freak us out.
(He was) just making sure we’re all on the same page and that we knew what we’re supposed to be doing,” junior outside hitter Rachael Kidder said.
UCLA adjusted to Utah’s pressure and didn’t make the same mistakes they did against Colorado the previous night. The Bruins went on a 4-0 run that saw three errors from Utah and an ace from senior libero Lainey Gera to come within one point at 12-11.
It was back and forth for the rest of the set, but UCLA came out on top following a combo block from freshman middle blocker Zoë Nightingale and sophomore outside hitter Kelly Reeves on match point.
Sealy was pleased that his team responded so positively to the run from Utah in the third set.
“Utah played great in set three; they did a lot of things right, put a lot of pressure on and we didn’t seize like we did last night,” he said.
“We’ve definitely got to keep working on the mental and emotional aspects. There’s a component of us that is so afraid to lose or play poorly that it becomes debilitating, and you’ve got to learn to fight and I thought tonight was a good opportunity to do that.”
And fight they did. Kidder refused to let her team drop the third set to Utah, posting 23 kills on the night and only two errors in the most efficient game of her career.
She recorded three kills in a row during a UCLA run and had nine total in the third set. Nightingale added three kills of her own in the final set, all of them coming at moments where Utah seemed poised to take back momentum.
“I think we reacted pretty well towards the end. They came out and played really well in third set. It wasn’t that we played any worse, they just picked up their game a lot, so I think we reacted well,” Kidder said.
The junior added that the team had taken their experience from the previous night into Saturday’s game.
“We definitely learned that volleyball is very mental. When we get in tight games, we don’t play as well, so we learned that we have to be loose and stay calm during situations like that,” she said.
Junior outside hitter Bojana Todorovic, who had nine digs and two assists in the game, agreed that the team remained focused on their own game instead of worrying about what the Utes were doing.
“We kept steady mentally and kept playing our game. Sometimes the shots we want to work aren’t going to work or the game plan isn’t always going to work, so we have to keep changing it up until it works,” Todorovic said.
“Any team can come out and turn the game around. They decided to step up and show us what they had in the third set, and I think the difference between last night and tonight was that we knew how to deal with it, and we expected it.”