Monday, March 18

UCLA women’s volleyball successfully counters Arizona State in rematch victory


UCLA women's volleyball redshirt sophomore middle blocker Anna Dodson goes up for a spike versus Arizona State on Nov. 19. Dodson finished with a game-high .600 hitting percentage to go with her 10 kills during the win. (Jennifer Xu/Daily Bruin)


Women's Volleyball


Arizona State0
No. 13 UCLA3

For the second time this season, the Bruins went up 2-0 on the Sun Devils.

This time, however, they finished the job.

No. 13 UCLA women’s volleyball (21-4, 14-3 Pac-12) swept Arizona State (14-14, 7-10) on Friday night in Pauley Pavilion, avenging its reverse-sweep defeat to the Sun Devils on Oct. 17.

In the opening frame, the Bruins trailed 20-16 before rattling off four straight points to tie up the set. After surrendering a kill to the Sun Devils that broke the run, the blue and gold scored five consecutive points to take the period.

Following a second set victory and nursing a 20-19 advantage in the third frame, UCLA finished Arizona State with five consecutive kills, three of them from senior outside hitter/opposite élan McCall. A spike from redshirt sophomore middle blocker Anna Dodson punctuated the win.

The Bruins outhit the Sun Devils .276 to .161 courtesy of an offensive performance that coach Michael Sealy said possessed a rhythm he did not see during the team’s previous match against Oregon on Sunday.

“We were all very dialed in and intentional,” Dodson said. “We also were going up and taking rips that were definitely more imperative for this match, and we could have done that more last match.”

Graduate student outside hitter/opposite Mac May led the team with 16 kills, while Dodson had 10 kills on 15 swings, good for a .600 hitting percentage. The redshirt sophomore’s .350 hitting percentage on the season ranks first on the team and eighth in the Pac-12.

Sealy said Dodson’s presence in the lineup has been instrumental to the team’s success.

“(Anna’s performance) is huge,” Sealy said. “Everyone knows who Mac May is, everyone’s going to put a lot of attention and focus there. Anna’s in the front row with her twice, so it’s really important Anna takes some of that load off.”

Defensively, UCLA out-dug Arizona State 56-42, with double-digit dig performances from senior defensive specialist/libero Zoe Fleck, McCall and May. The three upperclassmen pace the team in the statistics for the year, and May tied her season-high for digs in a three-set match Friday.

Sealy said the defensive performance, especially against tips, was an improvement over last month’s contest against the Sun Devils.

“We picked up almost everything that they tipped the whole day,” Sealy said. “It was good scouting from (assistant) coach (Eric) Barber and (assistant coach) Megan Pendergast to get that dialed in, so that was a big adjustment.”

(Joseph Jimenez/Daily Bruin)
Assistant coach Eric Barber coaches from the sidelines during UCLA women's volleyball's victory over Arizona State on Nov. 20. Barber and Megan Pendergast are both assistant coaches for the Bruins. (Joseph Jimenez/Daily Bruin)

While the Bruins had four service errors to one ace in the first set, they had five aces in the final two sets, finishing with six aces to nine errors.

Sophomore outside hitter/opposite Allison Jacobs accounted for three of those aces to go along with nine kills and seven digs. Graduate student setter Shelby Martin had an ace along with 37 assists, and senior defensive specialist/libero Kelsey Campeau had two aces and three digs off the bench.

Compared to the last time they played the Sun Devils, Martin said the Bruins were more focused on playing aggressively to close out the match.

“I think last time we kind of thought we had it in the bag,” Martin said. “We didn’t really give Arizona State a fair chance, but this time we weren’t going to let that happen. We played our hardest the whole time.”

Sports staff

Deng is currently a Sports staffer on the men's volleyball beat. He was previously a reporter on the gymnastics and women's volleyball beat and a contributor on the cross country and track & field beats.


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