(Photo Courtesy of Vinny Lavalsiti/UCLA Athletics)
UCLA Women's Volleyball Falls in Straight Sets to Wisconsin in NCAA Tournament
The Bruins' pursuit of ending their decade-long national title drought will go on another year.
No. 13 UCLA women's volleyball (25-6, 16-4 Pac-12) lost in straight sets to No. 4 Wisconsin (28-3, 17-3 Big Ten) in Madison on Thursday, marking an end to their NCAA tournament run in the Round of 16. The Bruins, with four national titles to their name, have now failed to make a Regional Final in each of the last five seasons and haven't made a National Final since winning it all in 2011.
UCLA hardly made it close in any of the three sets Thursday either, a stark contrast to how the team clawed its way to the Sweet 16 in the first place. The Bruins swept Fairfield in three tight sets in the first round, then needed to stage a fourth-set comeback to beat UCF in five in the Round of 32.
On Thursday, the Bruins kept things close for brief stretches, but never managed to make things tense by the end of each set, losing 25-16, 25-18 and 25-17.
The one-sided box score didn't account for the late rush of momentum, albeit momentum that was ultimately all for naught.
With its back up against the wall, down 18-14 in the third set, UCLA was about to go down by five when an errant dig by senior libero Zoe Fleck went hard right towards her team's bench. Senior outside hitter élan McCall had other ideas, though, and she went diving over a chair to save the ball and center it for Fleck to send back over the net.
The rally continued, with McCall recovering and getting back in the play, eventually meeting the Badgers at the net to force an error that went long. The play seemed to revive the Bruins' hopes a bit, as a few points later, freshman outside hitter Charitie Luper's diving backhand dig eventually set up graduate outside hitter Mac May for a kill that made it 22-18.
Wisconsin challenged the play, however, and video replay showed the ball hitting the ground prior to Luper's dig, instead making it 23-17. From there, UCLA lost two more points and the match was over, and their brief surge didn't turn into anything of consequence.
That short-lived boost wasn't the only bright spot for UCLA on the night, as they led 9-5 in the first set, 15-13 in the second and 7-3 in the third. But immediately following those moments, the Bruins conceded runs of seven, four and six points in a row to lose a grip on their leads early on.
The Badgers ended the first set on a 9-2 run, the second on a 7-1 run and the third on an 11-3 run. Keeping things close didn't do the Bruins any favors and, as a result, they were outpaced down the stretch in all three frames.
May had nearly half of her team's 35 kills, putting up 17 all on her own. She was the only Bruin who managed to post more than five kills, though, while the Badgers had four players convert on eight or more.
UCLA still managed to finish the year with its highest winning percentage since the 2011 national championship season, but taking the Bruins out of Pauley Pavilion when the lights were brightest spelled the end to their latest campaign.
While UCLA went a perfect 12-0 at home and even a spotless 3-0 in neutral sites, the Bruins' downfall wound up being their 10-6 record on the road. Stepping into a UW Field House packed with Badger fans, UCLA couldn't step up, and now May, McCall and several other key seniors will leave Westwood without an NCAA title to call their own.
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