#9 UCLA Takes Streak to Arizona, Arizona State

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Friday, Nov. 4
#9 UCLA at RV Arizona
6 p.m.
McKale Center
Live Video
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Saturday, Nov. 5
#9 UCLA at Arizona State
6 p.m.
Wells Fargo Arena
TV: Pac-12 Los Angeles and Arizona
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NINTH-RANKED BRUINS AT ARIZONA AND ARIZONA STATE
The ninth-ranked Bruins begin a four-match road trip this weekend, heading to the desert to face Arizona on Friday at 6 p.m. and Arizona State on Saturday at 6 p.m. The UCLA-Arizona match will have free live video on UCLABruins.com, while the UCLA-ASU contest will air on Pac-12 Los Angeles.

WHAT'S NEXT
The Bruins travel to the Bay Area next week, facing California on Thursday, Nov. 10 at 8 p.m. and #13 Stanford on Saturday, Nov. 12 at 7 p.m. The UCLA-California contest will air on Pac-12 Los Angeles, while the UCLA-Stanford tilt will feature live video on UCLABruins.com.

BRUINS IN THE POLLS
The Bruins moved up three spots to ninth in this week's AVCA Top 25 Coaches poll and have gone from #20 to #9 during their six-match winning streak. Eight UCLA opponents are in the Top 25 (#7 San Diego, #8 Washington, #13 Stanford, #15 Hawai'i, #19 Utah, #20 Oregon, #23 Washington State and #25 USC), while Arizona (#29) and Colorado (#30) are both receiving votes.

FORMICO NAMED PAC-12 DPOW FOR SECOND TIME
For the second time in three weeks, senior Taylor Formico has been named Pac-12 Conference Defensive Player of the Week, as announced on Monday. Formico helped the Bruins to wins against Colorado and #21 Utah last week, as UCLA ran its winning streak to six matches to move into a tie atop the Pac-12 standings.

Formico posted her ninth match of the season with at least 20 digs on Friday versus the Buffaloes, recording 27 to move into third on UCLA's all-time list. She also had six assists and two service aces. A night later, Formico tallied the second double-double of her Bruin career with 20 digs and a personal-best 11 assists against Utah, adding a dump-kill, her sixth of the season.

Formico leads the Bruins with 5.06 digs per set, tying for first among Pac-12 players and 26th nationally. She has double figures in digs in all 22 matches this season, 44 in a row dating back to last year and 110 times in her career. Formico also has a kill in three of her last four matches and at least six assists in four in a row.

UCLA won weekly honors for the third week in a row. It is the second DPOW for Formico, who also earned the award on Oct. 17, the same day when freshman Torrey Van Winden picked up Offensive POW accolades. Van Winden was named Pac-12 Freshman of the Week last Monday, while senior Jennie Frager was named OPOW on Aug. 29, giving the Bruins five Pac-12 weekly honors this season. Since 2011, when the conference started handing out Offensive, Defensive and Freshman of the Week honors, UCLA has won 11 Offensive, seven Defensive and five Freshman awards (23 total). The Bruins have 84 all-time Pac-12 weekly awards.

CLIMBING THE CHARTS
Senior Taylor Formico moved into third place on UCLA's all-time digs list against Colorado and now has 1,451 for her Bruin career. She trails only Chrissie Zartman (2,064) and Lainey Gera (2,009). Formico's overall career total is now at 2,243 (792 at UCSB in 2012) ... junior Reily Buechler is 20 kills away from becoming the 28th Bruin to reach the 1,000-kill mark ... senior Jordan Anderson's 3.97 kills per set would rank her sixth in Bruin history, while her 4.25 points per set would be 10th ... senior Claire Felix's .336 hitting percentage currently ranks sixth in school history.

TEAM NOTES
UCLA started its season at 7-0, its best start since 2006 when it began with 20 consecutive victories. The previous two times the Bruins opened a year with at least six straight wins, they have reached the third weekend of the NCAA Tournament (2006 - National Semifinals; 2011 - National Champions) ... Oct. 9 against Arizona marked the only time this season that the Bruins lost when holding their opponent under a .200 hitting percentage (13-1 record) ... the Arizona loss was also the only time the Bruins were defeated when winning the hitting battle (18-1) ... UCLA is 12-0 when either leading or tying its opponent in blocks ... the Bruins are 17-1 when winning the third set, but 1-3 when losing the stanza after intermission. However, they broke a three-match slide with their five-set victory against Colorado last Friday.

PLAYER NOTES
Senior Jordan Anderson has double figures in kills in 18 of her last 20, including four in a row, posting a season-best 18 versus Colorado last Friday. She is averaging 4.07 kills per set over the last four contests. Anderson also has at least one block solo in three of her last four, including a career-high three against California (Oct. 23) ... junior Reily Buechler has enjoyed playing against a team from Arizona over the last two seasons. This Oct. 7, she posted the second double-figure kill, error-free match of her career against Arizona State when she had 12 kills in 21 attempts for a .571 hitting percentage. Buechler's first such match came versus Arizona last Oct. 16 when she had 16 kills in 31 swings (.516) ... freshman Torrey Van Winden ran her double-figure kills streak to seven after recording 17 versus Utah and 13 against Colorado. She had double-doubles in both of those contests thanks to a career-best 16 digs versus the Buffs and 11 against the Utes. Van Winden has hit over .400 in four of her last five matches, including a season-best .526 (12-2-19) versus California ... freshman Kylie Miller notched the fourth double-double of her career with 27 assists and 11 digs against Colorado. Her season high in assists came versus Washington State (Sept. 23) when she had 35, while her best in digs was at Colorado (13) on Oct. 2. Miller also has seven aces, including two against Arizona (Oct. 9) ... sophomore Zana Muno has double figures in digs in seven in a row to give her 14 such matches on the year. She set a new season best with 23 digs at Oregon and is averaging 3.34 dps over her last seven. Muno also has 28 kills and 14 blocks in her last seven contests ... senior Claire Felix went two matches in a row against California (9-for-18) and Colorado (6-for-15) without a hitting error, posting a .455 hitting percentage in those two contests. Seven times this season, she has posted at least four kills and no miscues in a match. Felix has four double-figure kills matches, including 16 against LBSU and WSU, as well as nine contests with at least four blocks ... senior Jennie Frager recorded a career-best 16 kills against Colorado, her 11th match this season with double figures in kills. She posted just one hitting error in 29 attempts for a .517 percentage after hitting .526 in the previous contest against Cal. Defensively, Frager has at least four blocks on 16 occasions, reaching that total in three matches in a row ... senior Taylor Formico, now two-time Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week, has at least 20 digs in 10 contests to go with double figures in digs in all 22 matches this season, 44 in a row dating back to last year and 110 in her career. Formico hasn't just been chipping in defensively though. She recorded her second double-double with 20 digs and a career-best 11 assists against Utah and has at least six assists in four in a row. Formico also posted her sixth kill of the season versus the Utes, having now had a kill in three of her last four ... junior Ryann Chandler posted her team-best eighth double-double at Oregon with 30 assists and 13 digs. She has at least 20 assists in all but two matches this year. Chandler has also been serving tough lately, tallying six aces in her last four matches, including a career-best three versus Stanford.

BRUINS IN THE NATIONAL AND PAC-12 RANKINGS
UCLA enters the week as the only team in the nation ranked in the top five in three statistical categories, coming in at third in assists per set (13.71) and fifth in digs per set (18.24) and kills per set (14.58) through Oct. 30 matches. The Bruins are also 37th in opponent hitting percentage (.166). Individually, senior Taylor Formico is tied for 27th in dps (5.06), while senior Jennie Frager is 35th in hitting percentage (.376). As far as conference teams go, the Bruins are first among Pac-12 foes in aps, dps and kps and second in opponent hitting. Formico is tied for first in dps, while Frager and senior Claire Felix (.350) are third and seventh, respectively, in hitting. Junior Ryann Chandler is fifth in aps (8.20), Frager is eighth in bps (1.20) and senior Jordan Anderson is ninth in kps (3.37).

SCOUTING THE ARIZONA WILDCATS
Since winning three straight against ranked teams on the road (USC, UCLA, Stanford), Arizona (14-10, 6-6 Pac-12) has lost four of five, including a four-set loss at Oregon State last Sunday. The Wildcats' only win during the stretch was a five-setter at #20 Oregon. Arizona, which hosts USC on Wednesday, is hitting .231 as a team, averaging 13.74 kills, 1.27 aces, 15.71 digs and 2.02 blocks per set. Three players are averaging over 2.00 kps, led by sophomore Kendra Dahlke's 4.10. Senior Kalei Mau is second with 3.77 kps, while senior Katarina Pilepic is third at 2.43 kps. Senior Penina Snuka handles the setting duties and is posting 10.47 assists per set to go with a team-best 25 aces. Senior Laura Larson is tops on the squad with 3.87 dps.

THE MATCHUP: BRUINS VS. WILDCATS
UCLA leads the all-time series with Arizona 54-24, but the Wildcats have won two in a row, both in five sets. On Oct. 9 at Pauley Pavilion, Arizona came back from 2-0 down to stun the Bruins. Taylor Formico had 36 digs, while Torrey Van Winden added 16 kills. The Bruins are 22-14 all-time in Tucson, but have dropped four straight at the McKale Center. UCLA's last victory at Arizona was a five-set win in 2010. The Wildcats have won seven of the last 10 in the series.

SCOUTING THE ARIZONA STATE SUN DEVILS
Arizona State (9-15, 2-10 Pac-12), which hosts USC on Friday, has won both of its conference matches on the road, winning at Cal on Oct. 14 and Oregon State on Oct. 28, both in four sets. The Sun Devils are hitting .182 as a team, averaging 12.29 kills, 0.90 aces, 12.96 digs and 2.16 blocks per set. Four players are averaging over 2.00 kps. Junior Oluoma Okaro is first with 2.67 kps, 33 aces and 1.10 bps, senior Cassidy Pickrell is second (2.64 kps) and freshman Ivana Jeremic (2.16 kps) is third. Sophomore Kylie Pickrell leads the team with 6.44 assists per set, but freshman Nicole Peterson (5.55) has filled in during the last two matches. Junior Halle Harker is tops on the squad with 3.65 dps.

THE MATCHUP: BRUINS VS. SUN DEVILS
UCLA leads the all-time series with Arizona State 70-10 and has won three in a row, including a sweep at Pauley Pavilion on Oct. 7. Reily Buechler was error-free with 12 kills in 21 attempts (.571), while Taylor Formico added 13 digs. The Bruins are 30-7 in Tempe, including a five-set win last Nov. 20. Arizona State claimed a five-setter at home in 2014.

VAN WINDEN NAMED PAC-12 FRESHMAN OF THE WEEK
Torrey Van Winden earned her second Pac-12 weekly honor in as many weeks on Oct. 24, receiving league Freshman of the Week accolades. Van Winden recorded 31 kills (3.88 per set), a .455 hitting percentage and 12 digs (1.50 per set) in two Bruin victories last week.

Van Winden tied a season and career best with 19 kills against #14 Stanford on Oct. 21, helping the Bruins to their first victory over the Cardinal since 2011 (seven matches). She hit .417, adding nine digs and the first service ace of her career. On Oct. 23 versus California, the freshman posted 12 kills and a season-best .526 hitting percentage with just two errors in 19 attempts.

VAN WINDEN, FORMICO EARN PAC-12 WEEKLY HONORS
The Bruins picked up a pair of Pac-12 Conference weekly honors on Oct. 17, as freshman Torrey Van Winden was named Offensive Player of the Week, while senior Taylor Formico earned Defensive Player of the Week accolades. The Pac-12 awards are the first for both Van Winden and Formico.

Van Winden led the Bruins in kills in both victories, recording 33 (4.12 per set) to go with 18 digs (2.25 per set) and six blocks in eight sets. At #16 Oregon (Oct. 12), Van Winden had a match- and season-best 19 kills with a .341 hitting percentage. She added a career-high 12 digs for her first double-double, adding three blocks, including two solos. Van Winden came back two days later to again lead the Bruins in kills with 14 versus Oregon State. She produced a .444 percentage with only two miscues in 27 attempts to go with six digs and three blocks.

???????Formico posted 51 digs (6.38 per set) in eight sets. She had 29 digs against Oregon, adding an ace, while recording 22 at Oregon State. In four of Formico's eight sets, she registered at least eight digs, including eight in the second set in Eugene and 10 in the third, both Bruin set victories. The senior had eight digs in each of the first two sets in Corvallis.

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