Bruins Bounce Back with Sweep of Cal Poly
LOGAN, Utah – The No. 12-ranked UCLA women's volleyball team defeated Cal Poly in straight sets (25-17, 25-21, 25-18) in the Wayne Estes Center Saturday afternoon.
The Bruins (1-1) got back on track as they notched 43 kills at .243 across the three sets to conclude the Utah State Invitational. UCLA now leads the all-time series with Cal Poly (0-2) by a 14-3 margin.
élan McCall, who was two digs away from a double-double, led a trio of double-digit Bruin scorers with a match-high 14 kills at an efficient .440 hitting percentage. Freshman Grayce Olson and junior Iman Ndiaye also notched 10 kills apiece. Olson added two solo blocks to her point total.
Junior Francesca Alupei was a force at the net with a career-high three solo blocks, finishing with five total (2-3).
Graduate Matti McKissock facilitated the Bruin attack with 38 assists and led UCLA with nine digs.
Set 1: UCLA began to break away from Cal Poly at the 5-4 mark in the first set when McCall went to the service line. After an Olson kill, who was substituted in after the previous play, McCall notched an ace to put the Bruins up 7-4.
UCLA would fall behind after a series of attack errors, 12-10, forcing head coach Michael Sealy to call a timeout. A block party commenced out of the break with a 4-0 UCLA run which had three points come via solo blocks by Alupei, McCall and a block assist by Ndiaye and Alupei to bring the score to 15-12.
It was now Alupei's turn at the service line. She strung together five straight points, including an ace, to push UCLA to a 20-13 lead. Ndiaye contributed three kills in the stretch and finished the set with a total of five.
Set 2: UCLA struck for seven kills on its first seven swings to open the second set with a 13-8 lead. All told, UCLA had an impressive 17 kills for .419 in the set. McCall and Dodson led the attack with a combined 11 kills at a .733 clip and no errors.
Defensive specialist Katie McCarthy made her presence known with back-to-back service aces to make it 18-15.
Set 3: Three kills and solo block by Olson pushed UCLA out to another early 12-7 lead. Olson totaled six fills in the final frame.
Dueck, who dominated from the service line all match with 15 total attempts, concluded the afternoon with an ace.
HAVE A DAY, GRAYCE!
Three kills and a solo block in just the third set alone 👊 pic.twitter.com/ci6mVnhYpr
— UCLA Women's Volleyball (@UCLAWomensVB) August 27, 2022
Up Next: The Bruins open the Outrigger Volleyball Challenge in Honolulu, Hawaii with West Virginia (-) in the Stan Sheriff Center at 7:45 p.m. PT.