This post was updated Nov. 7 at 1:03 a.m.
Hamlet explores human duality.
Doppelgängers further emphasize this idea.
And the Bruins have a doppelgänger.
UCLA women’s volleyball (13-9, 7-5 Big Ten) boasts the numbers to warrant defensive praise and pass the eye test – the squad records the second-most digs per set and has limited opposing teams to the fourth-lowest hitting percentage in the Big Ten.
But the stats mask the Bruins’ defensive inconsistencies.
The squad will face Oregon (13-9, 4-8) – an unranked team that swept then-No. 25 UCLA on Oct. 22 – at Matthew Knight Arena in Eugene, Oregon, on Thursday night. The Bruins allowed the Ducks to notch a .327 hitting percentage – the highest clip recorded against coach Alfee Reft’s squad this season – and 49 kills in the squads’ first matchup.
And the Bruins’ lackluster defensive performance was not a one-time occurrence.
Rivals have posted .230-plus hitting percentages against UCLA in each of the squad’s last five losses.
The Bruins’ attack executed when their defense sputtered, and the squad’s pin hitters and blockers helped lead .200-plus clip performances in four of out its last five losses.
UCLA’s defense appears to serve as the foundation that allows the squad to dictate a match’s outcome, but the squad loses its power when cracks in its staunch facade surface.
Thus, the unit’s doppelgänger takes control.
Reft and assistant coach Nick Vogel have developed a team identity synonymous with defensive tenacity, a mindset that sophomore libero Lola Schumacher and sophomore setter Kate Duffey particularly have embraced.
Many Bruins said the performance of the team’s defense bolsters its energy.
But a poor defensive outing seemingly drains UCLA’s battery as well.
The Bruins’ dependence on their defense to mirror their standards may impede the team from stringing together consecutive wins.
They have only won two-straight affairs twice across the conference slate, and the Westwood bunch has yet to win back-to-back contests since defeating then-No. 14 Minnesota and then-No. 22 USC on Oct. 8 and Oct. 11, respectively.
The consequences of relying on a doppelgänger defense may emerge yet again Thursday, especially against a formidable attacking arsenal.
Oregon boasts an efficient attack that ranks in the upper half of the Big Ten, one that sports a .257 team hitting percentage.
The Ducks’ pin hitters Alanah Clemente – who has a unique southpaw hitting technique that can confuse opposing blockers – and Valentina Vaulet dominated the net against the Bruins, recording 13 kills apiece to spearhead the Ducks’ offensive clinic.
UCLA heads into Thursday’s match after tantalizing Washington’s offense Sunday, when the crew held the Huskies to a .095 hitting percentage – the fifth-time the Bruins have limited an opposing attack to a sub-.100 clip – and accumulated a season-high 87 digs, a mark that eclipsed the squad’s previous season high by more than 20.
But the same UCLA defense struggled to contain then-No. 22 USC at the net Oct. 29, when UCLA mustered just four total blocks, which tied the squad’s second-lowest stuff tally.
The Bruins’ defensive showing against the Ducks could help solidify a stalwart defensive unit heading into the latter half of the conference season.
But UCLA’s defensive doppelgänger may still plague the team, leading the squad down a path that ends in a similar way to all Shakespearean tragedies – in anguish.
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