During the 30th point of the second set, Cal’s inexperience reared its ugly head in their 3-0 loss to No. 7 UCLA on Sunday in Haas Pavillion.
Freshmen Lara Vukasovic and Mary McKennon watched the ball float in their direction, trying to call each other off. Neither girl heard the other, eventually running into each other and giving UCLA the point and a five point lead at 18-13.
Injuries to junior Adrienne Gehan and junior Robin Rostratter forced the freshmen into the match. And their inexperience showed.
“With players that have a little more experience there is a sense of trust on the floor,” senior Shannon Hawari said. “When its new people out there and communication isn’t quite there, there is going to be hesitation.”
Inexperience was the reason the Cal volleyball team (9-9, 3-5) dropped their match against the Bruins, ending a frustrating homestand without winning a single set against both UCLA (13-4, 5-3) and No. 6 USC on Friday.
“I don’t feel like UCLA or USC played their A-game against us,” coach Rich Feller said. “The frustration is that we didn’t take advantage of a good opportunity to win a set, maybe even a match.”
In the first set the Bears had trouble blocking the Bruins shots, not registering a single successful block.
“We were jumping before they were jumping so their outsides were able to hit ball as our blockers were coming down,” Feller said.
After a powerful strike and ace for UCLA, the lead was pushed to seven at 19-12, the biggest of the set.
Cal was able to pull within four at 21-17, but Bruins outside hitter Tabi Love would not let it get any closer. Love recorded eight kills and a service ace, helping UCLA to the 25-18 set victory.
The second set played out very similarly to the first set. The Bears blocking struggled and to add on to that, the team was made multiple unforced errors and service mistakes.
Cal dropped the second set 25-21, but the Bruins had to only make 13 kills since the rest were given to them through Bear mistakes.
In the third set, Cal played with urgency and more organization. Cal jumped out to a 10-4 lead behind three straight points from outside hitter Christina Higgins.
Paramount to the Bear’s success was that the team finally keyed in on Love defensively, slowing her down with better rotations and double blocks. In one instance, UCLA setter Megan Moena attempted a cross court feed to Love, but the Bears shifted and stuffed her attempt.
Yet very soon after, UCLA made an unfathomable 16-5 run, sending every Cal kill attempt came crashing right back down into the Bears’ faces.
The Bruins were rolling, quickly dousing the fire Cal had kindled.
“We just stopped playing,” Hawari said. “We were up and then we stopped competing.”
Before the Bears could blink, they were down 15-20, eventually falling in the set 25-18.
After the game, the players had a team meeting trying to reorganize before their upcoming road trip against the Washington schools.
“We have hold ourselves accountable, keeping the standard high for the younger players who don’t realize how hard we have to work,” Hawari said. “Because right now, it’s not good enough for this conference.”
Austin Crochetiere covers volleyball. Contact him at [email protected]
Comment Policy
Comments should remain on topic, concerning the article or blog post to which they are connected. Brevity is encouraged. Posting under a pseudonym is discouraged, but permitted. The Daily Cal encourages readers to voice their opinions respectfully in regard to the readers, writers and contributors of The Daily Californian. Comments are not pre-moderated, but may be removed if deemed to be in violation of this policy. Click here to read the full comment policy.