Bruins Travel to No. 7 Stanford, California
LOS ANGELES – The UCLA women's volleyball team heads to the Bay Area this weekend for a pair of contests versus No. 7 Stanford and California. The Bruins (9-8, 3-5 Pac-12) take on the Cardinal (12-4, 7-1) on Friday, Oct. 21 at 8 p.m. and the Golden Bears (7-11, 0-8) on Sunday, Oct. 23 at 1 p.m. PT. Leading the attack for UCLA is sophomore outside hitter Charitie Luper with 3.50 kills per set at .253. Eight matches through conference play, setter Matti McKissock ranks third in the Pac-12 with 11.70 assists per set.
UCLA at No. 7 Stanford
Friday, Oct. 21, 2022 – 8 p.m. PT
Stanford, Calif. (Maples Pavilion)
Watch: Pac-12 Networks
Talent: Troy Clardy (PxP), Don Shaw (Analyst)
Live Stats: uclalivestats.com
UCLA at California
Sunday, Oct. 23, 2022 – 1 p.m. PT
Berkeley, Calif. (Haas Pavilion)
Watch: Pac-12 Networks
Talent: Ted Enberg
Live Stats: uclalivestats.com
Weekend Recap
UCLA saw its three-match winning streak come to an end with a split of Oregon State (W, 3-0) and No. 17 Oregon (L, 2-3) last week.
• The Bruins swept the Beavers behind a .360 hitting night. UCLA's middles Anna Dodson and Tristin Savage stepped up in the absences of Francesca Alupei and Lauren Forte with 13 combined kills at .500. élan McCall led the Bruins in kills for a team-best seventh time this season with 14 kills and just three hitting errors at .407.
• UCLA was on the verge of taking a 2-0 lead in its Sunday matinee with Oregon, but the Ducks fended off two set points at 24-22 and 24-23 to rally for an extra-point win in set two. UCLA held a 22-14 lead in set three before the Ducks stormed out to a 9-2 run to cut the deficit to one. Oregon took that momentum into sets four and five to win the match.
Noting the Bruins
• The Bruins are hitting .224 (13.32 KPS) while limiting opponents to .184 (11.74 KPS).
• Charitie Luper ranks eighth in the Pac-12 during conference play with 3.52 KPS.
• Luper recorded the second 20-point performance by a Bruin this season at Arizona on Oct. 9 with a career-high 26.
• élan McCall picked up her team-high seventh double-double of the season against the Ducks with 15 kills and 11 digs.
• Libero Mackenzie Cole leads UCLA with 3.65 digs per set (226 total digs).
• Setter Matti McKissock leads UCLA with 10.68 assists per set. She currently has 4,712 career assists including her four seasons at Georgia Tech (4,103 AST) and 609 assists so far this season.
Air Charitie
Since being reinserted into the starting lineup against Washington on Sept. 25, Charitie Luper has led the Bruins with 3.65 kills per set and 95 total kills over UCLA's last seven matches. Luper has recorded double-digit kills in all but one of those contests and tallied a double-double in three of them. She is up to seven career double-doubles. Last season, Luper ranked second on the squad with 227 kills, averaging 3.39 kills per set despite missing the team's final eight conference matches of the season.
Efficient Anna
Middle blocker Anna Dodson was the Bruins' most efficient attacker last weekend with 20 combined kills at .581, including a flawless hitting night against the Ducks tying a season-high 13 kills with no errors for a .650 clip. Dodson also had a tape-tickler ace to clinch the first-set win for the Bruins in that match. The match prior, Dodson set a career-high with three service aces versus the Beavers. Dodson, who entered the Bruins' serving rotation this season, deep serves up knuckleballs roughly 10 feet beyond the service line.
Savage Mode
Tristin Savage made her first start of the season in the Bruins' matchup with the Beavers. It was her first start in over a season since March 12, 2021 against Utah. Savage stepped up in a big way against Oregon State with a career-high six kills and career-high five blocks for 8.5 points, tied for second-most on the team.
Lineup Changes
The Bruins have trotted out seven different starting lineups this season, including five different lineups during Pac-12 play alone. UCLA has sent out the same lineup in back-to-back Pac-12 matches only once this season when it played Colorado and Arizona State (Alupei, Cole, Dodson, McCall, McKissock, Ndiaye, Luper) and they have yet to send out the same lineup in a Pac-12 weekend series this season.
Season-High for McKissock
Matti McKissock recorded a season-high 54 assists in last Sunday's match versus Oregon. She currently has 4,712 career assists including her four seasons at Georgia Tech (4,103 AST) and 609 assists so far this season.
1,000 Career Kills
élan McCall picked up her 1,000th career kill in the fourth set versus Arizona last weekend. McCall, a 2018 All-Big-12 First Team and 2021 All-Pac-12 First Team honoree, amassed 463 kills in her two seasons at TCU and currently has 570 as a Bruin for a career total of 1,033..
Double-Double Machine
élan McCall has racked up seven double-doubles this season, including a streak of four straight from Sept. 30-Oct. 9. She has 31 in her career dating back to her freshman year at TCU. This season, McCall has averaged 2.97 kills per set and 2.79 digs per set. Both marks rank second on the team.
Last Time at Maples Pavilion …
The last time the Bruins entered Maples Pavilion on Sept. 26 last season, they left with a reverse sweep and their first win on The Farm since 2016 to push UCLA out to a 9-1 record for its best start through 10 matches since the 2016 season.
Meet Fran
Middle blocker Francesca Alupei has been a defensive stalwart for the Bruins this season with a team-high 1.53 blocks per set, good for third-best in the conference. Alupei has eight 5+ block performances in the Bruins 15 matches this season. Alupei has also matched her career-high of nine total blocks three times this season.
Stanford Series History
• Stanford leads the all-time series over UCLA, 54-43, dating back to 1976.
• Stanford owns the advantage over the last 10 meetings, 6-4.
• The Bruins defeated the Cardinal in the 1984 NCAA Championship for their first-ever NCAA title.
• The two programs have split their eight meetings in the NCAA Tournament and have faced off in the NCAA title match three times: (1984, 1992, 1994).
California Series History
• UCLA leads the all-time series over California, 69-9, dating back to 1980.
• The Bruins have won nine of the last 10 meetings against the Golden Bears.
What's New, Bru?
UCLA has seen eight players make their Bruin debut this season in the form of four transfers (MB Lauren Forte, S Matti McKissock, L Mackenzie Cole and DS Peyton Dueck), three freshmen (OH Grayce Olson, OH Cheridyn Leverette and S Mokihana Tufono) and Katie McCarthy, who redshirted her freshman Fall 2021 season. Of those eight players, five had made at least one start.
Two Bruins Named to Pac-12 All-Preseason Team
Charitie Luper and graduate transfer middle blocker Lauren Forte (Florida) were named to the 2022 All-Pac-12 Preseason Team. Luper was a four-time Pac-12 Freshman of the Week last season, ranking second on the squad with 227 kills despite playing in only 18 of UCLA's 31 matches. Luper's 3.39 kills per set were second only to Mac May (4.85 KPS). The duo led all Pac-12 scoring tandems through October of conference play with a combined 388 kills and 480 points prior to Luper's injury. Forte transfers into Westwood from Florida after a pair of All-SEC and AVCA All-American honors. In her two seasons as a Gator, Forte averaged 1.02 blocks per set (147.0 total blocks) and 2.06 kills per set at a .422 hitting percentage.
Bruins in the Rankings
UCLA enters the eighth week of the season unranked. UCLA has been ranked in the AVCA poll 526 times dating back to 1982, which ranks third most all-time behind Nebraska (579) and Stanford (571). UCLA, coming off its highest conference finish (2nd) since 2016, was tabbed to finish third and received one first-place vote in the Pac-12 Preseason Coaches Poll.