Slow and steady wins the race.
And that’s what UCLA women’s volleyball (14-10, 8-6 Big Ten) showcased Saturday night, taking down Northwestern (15-11, 5-9) in a back-and-forth five-set match at Pauley Pavilion.
“Tonight I saw the steadiness from our team,” said coach Alfee Reft. “I’ve seen us kind of teetering (in) areas, but regardless, … I thought we were in command of a lot of that (game). I certainly took some deep breaths on the side in that fifth set. But it’s nice to look into our players’ eyes and see them knowing there’s just a certainty of what they were doing.”
UCLA and Northwestern played a balanced match with each team’s hitting percentage separated by just 0.001. UCLA posted a .188 clip, and Northwestern notched a .189 hitting tally.
The Bruins had five hitters who eclipsed the five-kill mark, and graduate student middle blocker Phekran Kong posted 10 kills on a .300 clip in her return to the court, last playing Oct. 17.
Kong has appeared in just seven matches this season because of an undisclosed injury.
And it seemed that Kong helped bolster the Bruins’ blocking performance with her three rejections at the net.
The Bruin block was firing on all cylinders in the first set, opening the match with five denials. The squad ended the night with a season-high 15, with redshirt sophomore middle blocker Brooklyn Briscoe boasting a career-high nine stuffs.
Redshirt junior middle blocker Marianna Singletary contributed six to thwart the Wildcat attack. The Texas transfer leads the team with 113 total this season.
“We talk about winning when it’s weird, and these scores clearly aren’t perfect,” Singletary said. “They’re going back and forth. Like Alfee said, we had a lot going on in the court trying to find ways to score, and so I think winning in the weird games is almost even more exhilarating.”
After suffering a four-set loss to Oregon on Thursday, where UCLA posted its third-lowest hitting percentage of the season with a .100 clip, defeating Northwestern could be just what the squad needed to reset its play.
Saturday’s match featured 13 Bruins, which may have helped the Bruin attack by keeping the Wildcats on their toes with versatile rotations. Graduate student setter Zayna Meyer made her second consecutive appearance after not playing since Oct. 22, relieving sophomore setter Kate Duffey in the second set and later appearing in the fourth set as well.
Although freshman outside hitter Eliana Urzua made her third consecutive appearance after missing two matches earlier this season, Urzua only appeared as senior outside hitter Cheridyn Leverette’s back row substitute in two sets.
“We’ve been working on opening up our fan as pins a little bit,” Leverette said. “Working on hitting all four corners of the court, a little more down the line. We want to add more tools to our repertoire.”
And Leverette accomplished just that for the Bruins.
She took power and off-speed swings along with gentle taps throughout the match. The Hampton, Georgia, local finished the game with 13 kills and produced the final two power shots in the fifth set to seal the Bruin victory.
Reft said the Bruins can play anyone on their bench, and eight different players contributed at least one kill Saturday night.
Still, UCLA’s gradual approach to slow down the game’s speed against Northwestern seemingly sealed the squad’s triumph.
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