This post was updated Oct 12 at 9:54 p.m.
The Bruins have yearned for their shot at a championship since the beginning.
“We want to be great,” said coach Alfee Reft.
But after conceding five losses in six games with just one conference win, the Bruins will have the chance to spark a resurgence in the Bay Area.
This weekend, UCLA women’s volleyball (9-7, 1-5 Pac-12) will head north to play California (12-5, 1-5) and No. 3 Stanford (13-2, 6-0) for the first time this year on Friday and Sunday, respectively.
As opposed to the Cardinal, which is riding a seven-game winning streak, the Bruins and Golden Bears have yet to see the same Pac-12 competition experience. Both teams hold the same conference record, yielding most – or in the case of California, all – of their season losses in the last month.
Despite a three-game losing streak, sophomore libero Mokihana Tufono said UCLA is unique in its ability to find the silver lining in a loss.
“We do a good job of balancing the energy and the positivity,” Tufono said. “But also having the ability to hold each other accountable without it being self-seeking or attacking.”
If complete novelty is a team’s goal, Cal’s Maggie Li has done the trick. Li has managed a historic breakout season with three consecutive Freshman of the Week awards.
Li single-handedly recorded more kills in Cal’s match against Texas State than UCLA’s cumulative total against Oregon by a margin of four. As the runner-up for most kills in the conference with 263, the outside hitter has notched seven double-doubles on the season.
But these big trends are built by small elements, and senior opposite hitter Kate Lane said fine-tuning the details will extend the Bruins’ runtime.
“We just want to take care of the small things and really execute on our side of the net and play the long game with teams,” Lane said.
And when it comes to longevity, Stanford’s outside hitter Caitie Baird and libero Elena Oglivie steer the team’s championship-contending vehicle – keeping it locked in gear as they pilot their squad’s way through the latter half of Pac-12 play. The duo of Baird and Oglivie took this week’s awards for offensive and defensive players of the week, respectively, home to Palo Alto.
While UCLA’s focus on defensive improvement in practice compounds its recent offensive showing against Colorado, the team will need to hit the gas on both lanes of the playbook to have a shot at winning the race against a top-five matchup.
The last ranked team that came to Westwood – then-No. 3 Oregon – left the Bruins swept. The now third-ranked team, Stanford, on the horizon will give UCLA a closer glimpse of the national stage competition it is hoping to reach.
But for the Bruins to outperform the nine-time national champions, Tufono said greatness ultimately comes from within – within the team’s existing game plan, that is.
“We have a good system in place,” Tufono said. “There’s nothing really much we can do other than execute and score.”
The Bruins will serve off against the Golden Bears on Friday at 7 p.m. before facing the Cardinal on Sunday at noon.
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