UCLA
Yale
Well-Rounded Effort Gives 22nd-Ranked Bruins Fifth-Straight Victory
September 20, 2014 | Women's Volleyball
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Note: UCLA's 'home' matches for Oct. 15 (vs. Oregon) and Oct. 17 (vs. Oregon State) will be played at Crossroads School in Santa Monica. Both matches are at 7:30 p.m. and are free admission, as are the four contests at Pepperdine.
FULLERTON, Calif. - Senior Karsta Lowe led four Bruins in double figures in kills with 17 and added 10 digs for the fourth double-double of her career, as #22 UCLA swept Yale on Saturday at the Fullerton Classic. Set scores were 25-19, 26-24, 25-19.
Sophomore Claire Felix and freshmen Reily Buechler and Olga Strantzali also had at least 10 kills and all hit over .300. Buechler and Felix each had 12, with Felix hitting .381 and Buechler at .345, while Strantzali added 11 kills and a .474 percentage.
Senior Julie Consani had 45 assists and four digs, setting the Bruins to a .339 hitting percentage to give them their 49th-straight win when crossing the .300 threshold. Defensively, sophomore Taylor Formico had 13 digs, junior Rachel Inouye added eight and junior Karly Drolson posted five. The Bruins had eight aces as a team.
UCLA surrendered the first point of the match, but came back with the next five, the first two coming on combo blocks by Lowe and sophomore Jennie Frager and Buechler and Felix. Kills by Buechler and Lowe, and a Yale attack error, put the Bruins up 5-1. Following a Bulldog sideout, back-to-back Felix kills and a Lowe ace made it a six-point difference at 8-2. Yale came all the way back to get to within one at 14-13, but could get no closer.
A 5-1 UCLA run on two Lowe kills, kills by Buechler and Felix and a Lowe ace made it 19-14. Up 23-19, a Lowe kill and a Yale attack error closed out a 25-19 victory. Lowe led the Bruins with eight kills in the opener, while Felix added four on no errors in five attempts. The Bruins out-hit the Bulldogs .382 to .171.
Yale led throughout most of the second set, but UCLA methodically came back to go up 2-0 in the match. The Bulldogs raced out to a set-best lead of five at 9-4 before a 9-4 UCLA run evened the score at 13. Buechler and Felix each had three kills during the run. Yale went back up 17-14, but kills by Buechler and Strantzali, followed by an ace by Drolson, made it 17-all.
The score was tied again at 19, 20, 21 and 22. With the Bruins down 23-22, kills by Lowe and Felix gave them a set point, but Yale saved it. Another Felix kill gave the Bruins a second set point and Strantzali's sixth kill of the second wrapped up a 26-24 victory. Strantzali was equaled by Buechler in kills with six, Felix added four and Lowe had three. The Bruins out-hit the Bulldogs .278 to .250.
With the Bruins down 4-3 in set three, a 6-0 run on kills by Felix, Lowe, Consani and Strantzali, an Inouye ace and a Yale attack error made it 9-4. After a sideout, kills by Strantzali, Lowe and Strantzali again, followed by a Formico ace, made it a 10-1 run and a 13-5 advantage.
Up 15-8, the Bruins notched another 6-1 run on two Felix kills, kills by Buechler and Lowe, a Frager ace and a Bulldog attack error to take a set-best lead of 12 at 21-9. Yale made a run to cut its deficit to four at 23-19, but a Lowe kill and a Consani ace finished up a 25-19 victory. Lowe was 6-for-9 in kill attempts with no errors in the fourth, while Buechler, Felix and Strantzali each added four. Formico posted eight digs, as the Bruins out-hit the Bulldogs .357 to .306.
The Bruins close out the weekend against the host Titans at 7 p.m. Free audio, video and live stats will be available, with links located on the women's volleyball schedule page at UCLABruins.com.
