The Seattle University volleyball team held its own with one of the top volleyball programs in the country, but the sixth-ranked UCLA Bruins showed why it is a contender for the national title, sweeping the Redhawks, 3-0 (25-19, 25-10, 25-20), Saturday afternoon in the second match of the Nevada Tournament at the Virginia Street Gym.
The Redhawks came back from an early third set deficit, taking advantage of two Bruin attack errors to tie the set, followed by a Kaytlyn Dill (, ) service ace that gave Seattle University a 14-13 lead and forced UCLA to call timeout. A kill by Kelly Benson (, ) and a service ace from Emily Deleissegues (Aromas, ) gave the Redhawks a two-point lead at 16-14, but the Bruins scored four unanswered points to retake the lead. Back-to-back attack errors by UCLA again gave the Redhawks the lead, 19-18, but the Bruins recovered with four straight kills and a service ace to go up 23-19, and UCLA’s Katie Camp finished off the match with a service ace.
took a 3-2 lead in the first set and a 4-3 lead in the second set before UCLA went on significant scoring runs to take the advantage in both sets. In the first frame, the Bruins outscored the Redhawks 5-1, and then kept at arm’s length the rest of the way. UCLA scored 16 of 18 points during one stretch of the second set. Almost half of UCLA’s points in the second set came in the service game, as the Bruins earned eight service aces and the Redhawks made four service errors.
Cristin Richards (, ) led with six kills, while Dill contributed five kills and four digs. Setter Jamie Mellies (, ) led the Redhawks with 16 assists and nine defensive digs, and senior Libby Graff () played a solid match with four kills in seven attempts. Jordan Keller (, ) led at the net with three total blocks, with Richards and Emily Powell () each earning two block assists.
UCLA (5-1) was led by Dicey McGraw’s 11 kills and Katie Camp with ten kills, two aces, and five total blocks, with both players posting a hitting percentage above .400. Ali Daley earned four service aces and five digs, while setter Nellie Spicer added 20 assists and three total blocks to the winning effort. The Bruins finished with a .271 hitting percentage, 12 service aces, and six team blocks. Meanwhile, finished the match with six aces and five team blocks.
(1-5) will face the host Wolf Pack (1-3) in the third and final match of the Nevada Tournament Sunday, Sept. 7, beginning at 12 noon. The Redhawks will then have a few days off before heading to , , to participate in the Portland State Volleyball Showcase next weekend, followed by back-to-back road matches at Pac-10 schools and Washington.