Final Week Sees Bruins at Washington, Host USC

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Wednesday, Nov. 23
#8 UCLA at #7 Washington
7 p.m.
Alaska Airlines Arena
TV: Pac-12 National, Los Angeles and Washington
Live Stats

Saturday, Nov. 26
RV USC at #8 UCLA
5 p.m.
Pauley Pavilion
***Tickets***
***Note: New Clear Bag Policy***
TV: Pac-12 Los Angeles
Live Audio
Live Stats

PAC-12 TITLE ON THE LINE AT WASHINGTON, VERSUS USC
The eighth-ranked Bruins begin their final week of the regular season with a Wednesday matchup at #7 Washington. The 7 p.m. match will air on Pac-12 Network National and Los Angeles. Then on Saturday, UCLA closes out the regular season against USC at Pauley Pavilion at 5 p.m. in a match that will air on Pac-12 L.A. and also feature live audio on UCLABruins.com. Prior to Saturday's match, the Bruins will honor their senior class of Jordan Anderson, Ryann Chandler, Claire Felix, Taylor Formico, Jennie Frager and Haley Lawless.

PAC-12 TITLE CLINCHING SCENARIOS
With a victory over Washington on Wednesday, UCLA would clinch at least a share of the Pac-12 Conference title, its first league championship since 1999 and eighth overall. The Bruins would also earn the automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament. A 2-0 week for the Bruins would give them their first outright league title since 1993.

WHAT'S NEXT
On Sunday, ESPNU will air the one-hour NCAA Tournament Selection Show at 6 p.m. The 64-team field, as well as the 16 host sites for the first- and second-rounds, will be announced. The NCAA Tournament gets underway next Friday, Dec. 2.

BRUINS IN THE POLLS
The Bruins moved up one spot to eighth in this week's AVCA Top 25 Coaches Poll. Seven UCLA opponents are in the Top 25 (#7 Washington, #11 San Diego, #12 Stanford, #13 Hawai'i, #17 Utah, #19 Oregon and #25 Washington State), while USC (#27), Missouri State (#28) and Arizona (#32) are all receiving votes.

FORMICO NAMED PAC-12 DEFENSIVE POW FOR THIRD TIME
Senior Taylor Formico was named Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week for the third time this season, as announced by the conference on Monday. Formico had 42 digs and two service aces in two victories last week against Oregon State and Oregon to help the Bruins remain in a tie for first place in the league standings.

Against Oregon State on Wednesday (Nov. 16), Formico extended her double-figure digs streak to 49 in a row just in the first set when she had 12. She added nine more in the second and six in the third to finish with 27 digs, coming one shy of tying the school record for digs in a three-set match. Formico, who also had two aces versus the Beavers, added 15 digs and a kill on Friday (Nov. 18) versus #19 Oregon. Formico leads the Bruins and all Pac-12 players with 5.15 digs per set, also ranking 21st in the nation.

The Bruins have won seven Pac-12 weekly honors this season, with Formico also earning DPOW accolades on Oct. 17 and 31. Freshman Torrey Van Winden is a three-time award winner, having claimed Pac-12 Freshman of the Week on Oct. 24 and Nov. 14, as well as Offensive Player of the Week on Oct. 17. Senior Jennie Frager was the conference's Offensive POW on Aug. 29. Since 2011, when the conference started handing out Offensive, Defensive and Freshman of the Week honors, UCLA has won 11 Offensive, eight Defensive and six Freshman awards (25 total). The Bruins have 86 all-time Pac-12 weekly awards.

CLIMBING THE CHARTS
Junior Reily Buechler surpassed the 1,000-kill mark with her first kill of the third set at Arizona State on Nov. 5, becoming the 28th Bruin to reach that plateau. She has 1,051 for her career, ranking 27th in school history ... senior Taylor Formico moved into third place on UCLA's all-time digs list against Colorado on Oct. 28 and now has 1,567 for her Bruin career. She trails only Chrissie Zartman (2,064) and Lainey Gera (2,009). Formico's overall career total is now at 2,359 (792 at UCSB in 2012) ... senior Jordan Anderson's 3.82 kills per set would rank her seventh in Bruin history ... senior Claire Felix's .333 hitting percentage currently ranks seventh 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) ... keeping with the 2011 parallel, UCLA swept its season series with Stanford for the first time since that championship campaign ... Oct. 9 against Arizona marked the only time this season that the Bruins lost when holding their opponent under a .200 hitting percentage (17-1 record) ... the Arizona loss was also the only time the Bruins were defeated when winning the hitting battle (23-1) ... UCLA is 14-0 when either leading or tying its opponent in blocks ... the Bruins are 21-1 when winning the third set ... UCLA is 4-0 on Wednesday matches this season.

PLAYER NOTES
Ryann Chandler, previously classed as a redshirt junior, announced last week that she will forego her senior campaign next season. As a four-year collegiate student-athlete, she will be introduced with the Bruin seniors prior to Saturday's match against USC ... senior Jordan Anderson recorded her 20th double-figure kills match of the season at Stanford on Nov. 12 when she had 13. Anderson was one shy of the double-figure mark in both contests last week when she had nine kills against Oregon State and Oregon. Her season best in kills came on Oct. 28 when she had 18 versus Colorado ... sophomore Kyra Rogers has started each of the last four matches and has posted 17 kills, nine digs and five blocks in 14 sets. She tied season-high totals with five kills versus Oregon State and California (Nov. 10) ... junior Reily Buechler posted her first double-double since Sept. 23 last Wednesday when she tied a career high with 15 digs, adding 13 kills, versus the Beavers. It was her seventh double-double of the season, which ranks second on the team. Buechler, who is second on the squad in aces, has one in four of her last five contests ... freshman Torrey Van Winden has at least seven kills in 15 matches in a row, including tying a career high with 19 at Stanford. She has also collected at least seven digs in eight straight, while adding six aces in her last half-dozen matches. Van Winden has hit over .300 in five consecutive, while notching at least three blocks in four in a row ... freshman Kylie Miller has served an ace in five straight matches, posting two against Arizona State (Nov. 5), Stanford and Oregon and one versus Cal and OSU. Her 15 service aces are tied for third on the team. Over the last three contests, Miller is averaging 5.25 assists and 1.50 digs per set ... senior Claire Felix has a four-match streak with at least five blocks, having posted a handful in three in a row and prior to that setting a career high with eight at Cal. Six of her 23 roofs during this stretch have been of the solo variety. Felix has eight matches this season with at least five blocks ... senior Jennie Frager was a force on both offense and defense in the Bruins' win against Oregon, producing match highs in kills (15) and blocks (7). She swung at a .636 clip with only one hitting error in 22 attempts, marking the sixth time this season she has hit over .500 in a match. Frager, who has 13 double-figure kills matches, also has at least four blocks in 18 contests this year ... senior Taylor Formico, the three-time and reigning Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week, came within one dig of tying the school record for digs in a three-set match when she had 27 against Oregon State. Formico has at least 20 digs in 13 contests to go with double figures in digs in all 28 matches this season, 50 in a row dating back to last year and 116 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 (Oct. 29). Formico also posted her eighth kill of the season against Oregon and has an ace in five of her last eight matches (seven total) ... senior Ryann Chandler tied a career high with three aces against Oregon. It was the third time this season she had a trio of aces, also doing it versus Arizona State (Oct. 7) and Stanford (Oct. 21). Chandler has at least six digs in eight matches in a row.

BRUINS IN THE NATIONAL AND PAC-12 RANKINGS
Through matches of Nov. 20, UCLA ranks sixth in digs per set (17.86), 14th in assists per set (13.51), 21st in kills per set (14.27) and 26th in opponent hitting percentage (.164). Individually, senior Taylor Formico is 21st in dps (5.15) and senior Jennie Frager is 43rd in hitting (.365). Among Pac-12 teams, the Bruins are first in dps and second in opponent hitting, aps and kps. Formico is first among Pac-12 players in dps, Frager is third in hitting and seventh in blocks per set (1.15), senior Ryann Chandler is sixth in aps (7.74) and senior Claire Felix is eighth in hitting (.332).

SCOUTING THE WASHINGTON HUSKIES
Like the Bruins, Washington (24-4, 14-4 Pac-12) comes into Wednesday's contest on a five-match win streak, earning a pair of four-set victories at Colorado and Utah last weekend. The Huskies are hitting .268 as a team, averaging 14.22 kills, 1.45 aces, 14.99 digs and 2.75 blocks per set. Three players are posting at least 3.00 kps, led by junior Courtney Schwan's 3.66. Junior Tia Scambray is second with 3.09 kps, 22 aces and 2.99 dps, while junior Crissy Jones is third at 3.05 kps and first with 34 aces. Junior Bailey Tanner handles the setting duties and is averaging 10.91 assists per set. Freshman Shayne McPherson is tops on the squad with 3.46 dps, while freshmen Kara Bajema (1.31) and Avie Niece (1.10) are each averaging over a block per set.

THE MATCHUP: BRUINS VS. HUSKIES
For the Bruins to earn their first conference title since 1999, they will have to do so by winning in Seattle for the first time since 2003. UCLA has lost 13 in a row at Washington, with the last triumph coming in five sets on Oct. 3, 2003. Despite the streak, the Bruins hold a 19-17 edge versus the Huskies in matches in Seattle and a 43-26 lead overall in the series. Last season, Washington swept UCLA in Westwood and won in four in Seattle.

SCOUTING THE USC TROJANS
USC (18-11, 10-8 Pac-12) is at Washington State on Wednesday before traveling across town to take on the Bruins on Saturday. The Trojans enter the week with wins in two of three, but lost a four-setter to Oregon last Saturday. USC is hitting .238 as a team, averaging 13.88 kills, 0.93 aces, 15.89 digs and 2.36 blocks per set. Four players are posting at least 2.00 kps, led by freshman Khalia Lanier's 3.89. Sophomore Alyse Ford is second (2.69), followed by juniors Niki Withers (2.46) and Brittany Abercrombie (2.11). Junior Reni Meyer-Whalley (5.92 assists per set) and senior Alice Pizzasegola (5.06) split the setting duties. Senior Taylor Whittingham tops the squad with 4.76 dps, while senior Elise Ruddins (1.12) and junior Jordan Dunn (1.11) each post over a block per set.

THE MATCHUP: BRUINS VS. TROJANS
UCLA leads the all-time series with USC 62-56 after opening up conference play with a four-set victory at Galen Center on Sept. 21. Reily Buechler had a career-best 21 kills to go with nine digs, Jordan Anderson added 11 kills and 15 digs and Taylor Formico posted 22 digs. The Bruins are 28-23 at home versus the Trojans.

VAN WINDEN NAMED PAC-12 FOW FOR SECOND TIME
Torrey Van Winden has been named Pac-12 Freshman of the Week for the second time this season, as announced by the conference on Nov. 14. It is the third weekly league honor for Van Winden, who was also named FOW on Oct. 24, as well as Offensive Player of the Week on Oct. 17.

Van Winden helped the Bruins win at Stanford (Nov. 12) to post UCLA's first season sweep of the Cardinal since 2011. The freshman tied a career high with 19 kills on a .381 hitting percentage, adding eight digs, four blocks and two service aces. On Nov. 10 at California, Van Winden was one kill and one dig shy of a double-double, notching nine kills and nine digs to go with a .389 percentage and three blocks.

FORMICO NAMED PAC-12 DPOW FOR SECOND TIME
Senior Taylor Formico was named Pac-12 Conference Defensive Player of the Week for the second time this season, as announced on Oct. 31.
Formico posted 27 digs against Colorado (Oct. 28) to move into third on UCLA's all-time list, also tallying 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.

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 over Stanford and California.

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.

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 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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