Utah volleyball will make the journey to the Pacific coast to face off against two top-10 teams in Southern California. The Utes will start against UCLA on Friday and finish off the weekend with a match against USC on Sunday.
Last time Utah played against UCLA, the Bruins beat the Utes 3-1 after dropping the first set and being held to just a -.053 hitting percentage by the Utes. This time around, Utah will hope to replicate the success it found in that first set against the Bruins.
As far as players to watch out for, UCLA is led by Jordan Anderson, who is averaging 4.69 kills per set, and Zana Muno, who has 9.78 assists per set average. The Bruins have an efficient offense, ranking third in the Pac-12 in kills per set and fourth in hitting percentage. They will give the Utes a fit on the receiving end.
“They run a slide attack a lot,” said Utah head coach Beth Launiere when asked about the first matchup for the weekend. “We struggle against that and haven’t played against it much. So we really focused on that this week.”
Utah’s second opponent of the weekend in USC is now ranked No. 1 in the country. So far this season, the Trojans have not lost a match at home and the Utes will have their hands full with a team featuring one of the best outside hitters in the country — Samantha Bricio.
Bricio is first in the nation with 5.10 kills per set and also leads the nation in service aces with 60 on the season at a .71 per set clip. USC leads the Pac-12 in assists, kills and digs and is second in the conference in hitting percentage, opponent hitting percentage and service aces. This team will definitely be one of Utah’s toughest challenges left on the schedule.
As the Utes travel to California, they will be facing two teams that normally draw pretty sizable crowds to their games. So far this the season, the Trojans have averaged well over 1,000 fans in attendance for each of their games. This only adds to the tough challenge of playing elite teams on the road.
“It’s definitely an advantage [for the other team], but volleyball comes down to whoever shows up that day,” said sophomore Eliza Katoa. “If we come prepared to the match we have the ability to win, but we have to go in knowing that it’s not our crowd.”
When asked about how the team deals with opposing, sometimes hostile, crowd, Katoa gave a simple answer.
“We make sure we all have each other’s backs,” she said.
One of the things that helped bring the Utes this past weekend — a trend they hope that continues this weekend — was Megan Shughrou’s promotion to starting libero. When asked about whether this would be a permanent change or not, Launiere gave a brief coaching dissertation.
“Coaching 101,” Launiere said. “Don’t change something when you win. I change a lot when we lose, but Tess had a really good weekend, and so did Shughrou. So, I think we will stick with it for now.”
This weekend won’t be all business for a team that is 23 games into the season. On Saturday, when the Utes will have a day off, they have a little R&R planned.
“We are probably going to go hike to the Hollywood sign,” Launiere said. “Nothing with too major of a time commitment. We are just going to hang out there for an hour or so to get some air and sunshine.”
For a team this late in the season, a nice sightseeing trip will undoubtedly do them some good.
@Twelvegage96