The UCLA women’s volleyball team has been overshadowed by its crosstown rival for nearly five years.
Nobody on the current roster was a member of the 2000 UCLA team that last defeated USC.
When the Bruins face the Trojans tonight at Pauley Pavilion, they will have a chance to end their nine-game losing streak to USC, which has won two of the last three NCAA titles.
And the Bruins couldn’t be more excited about possibly ending the Trojan dominance.
“Everyone on the team is totally fired up to play their best against USC,” junior Nana Meriwether said. “They’ve been beating us for too long, and this year we have a great chance to beat them.”
The atmosphere seems prime for a Bruin victory.
The game will be the team’s first home match of the season, and the first chance the Bruins’ seven freshmen have to experience the rivalry with the Trojans.
“We are going to have mostly freshmen starting, and they’re just really excited to play against USC,” junior captain Colby Lyman said. “Everyone has prepared themselves well mentally and physically, and I think we have a great shot at winning.”
UCLA will also benefit from the return of outside hitter Kaitlin Sather, who missed most of last weekend’s dual losses to Stanford and Cal with a knee injury. She leads the team in kills per game and total aces, and her place in the starting lineup should give the Bruins a much stronger offensive attack.
With injuries to Lyman and sophomore Meghan Schoen still affecting the team, the Bruins will once again rely on the freshmen to step up.
“The freshmen have been doing a great job,” Lyman said. “With a few girls out with injuries, they’ve stepped in huge for us.”
After leading the team with 17 kills and 16 digs last weekend, freshman Kelsey Hall has earned the starting nod against USC.
“It’s no question that Kelsey has got to come up big for us,” UCLA coach Andy Banachowski said.
“She gained a lot of confidence last weekend and did an outstanding job stepping into a starting role. Right now we have two freshmen starting at the outside hitter position, and we’ll be looking for big contributions from both of them.”
Although the Trojans have slipped in the American Volleyball Coaches Association rankings from seventh to 19th while compiling a 4-6 record, they still have several players the Bruins will need to be ready for.
All-American middle blocker Bibiana Candelas is 6-foot-five and could stifle the Bruin attack with her size. If the Bruins get the ball past her, libero Debora Seilhamer could present a problem, as she is fifth in the nation in digs per game with 5.89. The Trojans also have three players who are averaging nearly four kills a game.
But the Bruins feel that if they just focus on their play, they should be able to put a stop to the Trojans’ winning streak.
“USC has got a strong hitting team and some big players, and they are going to get their kills,” Banachowski said.
“I think we’ll be able to win if we can cut down on our errors quite a bit. We have to make them earn their points and not give points away with hitting errors or passing errors.”
To counteract USC’spowerful offense, UCLA will need to put up a solid block, something the team has been working on.
“Our blocking is one of our strongest points right now since we’ve been practicing it so much,” Lyman said. “Especially playing against big hitters like USC, our block is going to be huge for us.”