UCLA
Utah
Bruins Boot the Utes in Four
November 07, 2015 | Women's Volleyball
WVB on Twitter | WVB on Facebook | WVB on Instagram
LOS ANGELES - Junior Jordan Anderson led all players with 25 kills to equal a season best, freshman Zana Muno extended her double-double streak to six matches with 47 assists and 19 digs and freshman Kyra Rogers posted career highs in kills (9), hitting percentage (.381), digs (14) and blocks (6), as the ninth-ranked Bruins defeated Utah in four sets on Friday at Pauley Pavilion. Set scores were 25-16, 25-20, 21-25, 25-16.
The Bruins have won 10 of their last 11 matches and are 20-4 overall and 11-3 in Pac-12 play, while the Utes fall to 9-15 and 3-10 in league action.
Junior Taylor Formico recorded 16 digs, redshirt sophomore Jessyka Ngauamo added 12 kills, five digs and four blocks and junior Jennie Frager notched six kills and five roofs. Senior Rachel Inouye notched 14 digs and senior Karly Drolson added seven. The Bruins hit .226 for the match.
The Bruins dropped the first two points of the match, but came back with the next four on a pair of Frager kills, a Frager/Rogers block and a Ngauamo kill to go up 4-2. UCLA didn't trail for the rest of the set. At 7-5, six in a row for the Bruins broke it open. Kills by Ngauamo and junior Claire Felix, back-to-back Anderson kills, a bad Utah set and an Inouye ace made it 13-5.
UCLA's lead remained between six and a set-best nine for the remainder of the first. At 22-16, the Bruins scored the final three on a Rogers kill and two in a row by Anderson to win it 25-16. Anderson led the Bruins with six kills in the first, Rogers had four in an error-less seven attempts and Ngauamo added four kills. Rogers also had eight digs, while Muno added five, as the Bruins out-hit the Utes .310 to .167.
The Bruins' biggest deficit of the second set was just one. Trailing 6-5, UCLA scored seven of eight to go ahead 12-7. Frager had two block solos and teamed up with Rogers on a block, Anderson had a kill, Muno served an ace and Utah committed two errors. At 15-13, the Bruins scored four of five on two Anderson kills, one by Ngauamo and a Felix ace to take a 19-14 edge.
Utah netted the next four to get to within one, and was also at a one-point deficit at 21-20, but the Bruins scored the final four of the set on back-to-back Frager kills, a Frager/Rogers combo and a Ngauamo solo stuff to win the second 25-20. Anderson paced the Bruins with six kills, while Ngauamo had four. Formico recorded six digs, Inouye and Muno each had five, Rogers posted four digs and Frager added four blocks. The Bruins out-hit the Utes .195 to .064.
Despite a pair of ties in the third, the Bruins never led. Utah scored six of the first nine before an Anderson kill, a Muno/Felix block and a Ute attack error evened things at six. Utah responded with a 6-1 run, but five in a row for the Bruins on three Anderson kills and two Ute errors tied it up at 12.
However, Utah rallied with five of the next six to go back up by four and didn't see its lead dip below two for the rest of the set, winning the third 25-21. Anderson had eight of the Bruins' 13 kills in the set, Muno added six digs and Formico posted five, as the Bruins were out-hit .233 to .098.
The Bruins trailed early in set four, but by no more than a pair. Down 8-7, the Bruins netted six straight and eight of nine to go ahead by six at 15-9. The 6-0 run came on two kills by Rogers, one by Ngauamo, a combo block by the two of them and two Utah errors. After a sideout, a roof by Rogers and redshirt junior Haley Lawless and an Anderson solo stuff made it a six-point lead.
At 16-12, two Anderson kills and a Felix kill gave the Bruins a seven-point lead at 19-12. The Bruins led 23-16 and then scored the final two of the match on a Utah service error and a Rogers/Ngauamo block to close out the 25-16 victory. Anderson had five kills in an error-less seven attacks, while Rogers added four kills and three blocks in the fourth. Ngauamo posted four digs, as the Bruins out-hit the Utes .367 to .075.
The Bruins continue their homestand next Thursday, Nov. 12 against Oregon at 8 p.m. at Pauley Pavilion. The match will air on Pac-12 Networks.
