UCLA beat Penn State in four sets: women’s volleyball
UCLA’s Eliana Urzua and Brooklyn Briscoe had an impressive recent match against Penn State women’s volleyball.
The UCLA women’s volleyball team brought California heat with them to Penn State over the weekend.
The formerly unranked Bruins took down the then No. 15 ranked Penn State women’s volleyball team in four sets. Both squads started the game with matching records of 7-4.
UCLA are now 8-4 and Penn State 7-5. The latest American Volleyball Coaches Association Division I poll have UCLA at No. 24. The Nittany Lions are now ranked at No. 16.
The Sunday match showcased the athletes’ extreme power, agility, and the ability to adjust on both sides. Two freshman behaved like their older teammates — Penn State’s Alexis Ewing and UCLA’s Eliana Urzua.
“I think she's gotten so much better since preseason,” PSU head coach Katie Schumacher-Cawley said about Ewing’s growth. “She'll continue to do some different shots and learn some new things. She really adjusts well and wants to get better. Slowly, it's happening, and we need to push her along a little bit faster.”
Their volleyball prowess was on display as they looked like they had their respective coaches’ playbooks intellectually stored in their minds. They were strategic in their floor positioning, weaving in and out of their teammates from across the net making an effort to block and kill the other.
It was UCLA’s last stop on their East Coast tour. They also swept Ohio State in three sets on Friday.
Kennedy Martin and Maggie Mendelson were first to get things started in set one. Their home was a the net, where they continued to block the Bruins.
UCLA’s Brooklyn Briscoe was quick to adjust, finding empty pockets in the Nittany Lions’ lineup. Her sightseeing allowed her to slam down multiple kills.
Multiple times throughout the match Mendelson, Martin, and Emmi Sellman went on two-point runs. Especially Sellman, with her defensive skills matching her offensive skills, she was able to make two kill runs with Martin by her side.
As the match continued, the Nittany Lions fell to the Bruins in the second and third sets, which left it all up to one final set to determine who would reign victorious. After the third set, the Lions came back as they had in the beginning, with power and strength.
Martin continued her attacks, breaking her season high with 34 kills, as well as blocking the Bruins’ attacks.
During the fourth and final set, Rec Hall fell eerily quiet, too busy focusing on the movements of the players and the ball.
As Briscoe and her teammates, Kate Duffey and Cheridyn Leverette attacked the net and blocked almost every attack from the Lions, they brought the house down and won the match.
With the echoing of the last ball hitting the court, the UCLA team and fans roared in excitement as the unranked UCLA Bruins dominated the Penn State Nittany Lions.
The final score was 22-25 Penn State, and UCLA 25-19, 25-23, 25-23.
UCLA will be back in Los Angeles for their next match-up against Purdue on October 2, while Penn State will be back in Rec Hall on October 3 to battle the No. 1-ranked team in the American Volleyball Coaches Association, the University of Nebraska.
Thank you for reading Female Athlete News. Lily Dorf is a student-intern at Penn State University.