Bruins Come Up Short in Five-Set Loss to Ducks

LOS ANGELES – Anna Dodson registered 13 kills with no errors on 20 swings (.650) as the UCLA women's volleyball team fell in five sets (25-22, 25-27, 25-23, 21-25, 9-15) to No. 17 Oregon at Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom Sunday afternoon.
 
Dodson also dug put five balls and recorded four blocks assists and a service ace to clinch the first-set victory for the Bruins (9-8, 3-5 Pac-12).
 
As a team, UCLA hit for 63 kills at .269 compared to Oregon (11-5, 5-3 Pac-12) who hit 73 kills at .309 to snap its three-match losing streak. The Ducks had two 20-kill performers in Mimi Colyer (23 K) and Brooke Nuneviller (22 K).
 
Outside hitter élan McCall recorded her fifth double-double over UCLA's past six matches with 15 kills (.364) and 11 digs today. Charitie Luper racked up a team-high 18 kills, including eight in the second set alone. The fourth Bruin to reach double-digit kills was Iman Ndiaye with 13.
 
Set 1
The Bruins trailed by three points towards the tail end of set one, 17-14, when they strung together a 5-1 run capped by a Luper kill and McCall service ace to retake the lead. Dodson put the frame away with a kill to make it 22-20 and a tape-ticking ace dealt 12 feet beyond the service line for set point.
 
Set 2
UCLA had set point twice at 24-22 and 24-23, but a 7-1 run by the Ducks stole the set to even the match, 1-1. Nuneviller and Colyer each had seven kills in the set.
 
Set 3
A once 19-10 UCLA advantage shrunk to 23-19, and then a 4-1 Oregon run cut it to 24-23, but the Bruins broke away and won the set thanks to a successful challenge by head coach Michael Sealy.
 
The Oregon kill, which would have forced extra points again, was overturned upon a net violation by Ducks' setter Elise Ferreira.
 
Set 4
Oregon took that momentum from the second half of set three and jumped into a 19-14 lead in the fourth, hitting for 17 kills at a .433 clip.
 
Set 5
The Ducks sided out on eight of the Bruins' nine serves in set five and teed off for nine kills on 14 attempts. In the final two sets, Oregon hit for .477 compared to UCLA at .273. Oregon also out-blocked UCLA 7-0 in the last two frames.
 
Next Up: UCLA takes on the Bay Area Pac-12 schools next weekend, beginning with No. 7 Stanford on Oct. 21 at 8 p.m. in Maples Pavilion and ending with California on Oct. 23 at 1 p.m. PT in Haas Pavilion.
 
Both matches will be televised by the Pac-12 Networks.