Friday, December 2
Los Angeles, Calif.
8:00 PM
UCLA
25-6
3
vs
1
Murray State (First Round)
23-9
1
2
3
4
F
Murray State
25
18
15
9
1
UCLA
21
25
25
25
3
Junior Reily Buechler had 20 of her 21 kills in the first three sets.
#10th-Seeded Bruins Rally Past Racers
December 02, 2016 | Women's Volleyball
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LOS ANGELES - The 10th-seeded Bruins rallied back from dropping the first set against Murray State on Friday in the First Round of the NCAA Championship at Pauley Pavilion, taking the next three to defeat the Racers in four. Set scores were 21-25, 25-18, 25-15, 25-9.
UCLA (25-6) advanced to the Second Round on Saturday against Baylor, which defeated San Diego in five sets earlier on Friday. The Bruins and the Bears will square off at 7 p.m. Free live video and audio will be available at UCLABruins.com.
Junior Reily Buechler tied a season high with 21 kills, hitting .373 with eight digs and three blocks. Senior Taylor Formico recorded 26 digs, six assists and two aces, senior Jordan Anderson added 12 kills, a .345 percentage and five digs and senior Claire Felix was error-free with 11 kills in 17 attempts (season-best .647). The Bruins hit .333 for the match behind the setting of senior Ryann Chandler, who had 22 assists, 15 digs (tied season best) and three aces (tied career high), and freshman Kylie Miller, who posted 24 assists and eight digs. Freshman Torrey Van Winden tallied a career-best 19 digs with nine kills and three blocks and senior Jennie Frager added six blocks.
Murray State (23-9) led wire-to-wire in set one, scoring the first three points. UCLA evened things at four thanks to two Buechler kills, one by Frager and a Racer attack error, but Murray State raised its lead up to four at 12-8. A 7-3 Bruin run, which included two Buechler kills and a block assist, evened the score at 15, but the Racers would not surrender the lead, getting it to as many as five at 24-19 before winning on their third set point, 25-21. Buechler had six kills in the opener, Anderson added three and Formico and Van Winden both had four digs, as the Bruins were out-hit .357 to .217.
UCLA never trailed in set two to even the match. The Bruins jumped out to a 9-2 lead thanks to two Anderson kills with an ace, Buechler and Van Winden kills, a Chandler ace, a Buechler/Frager block and two MSU errors. The seven-point difference was the biggest for the Bruins in the second set. At 17-13, the Racers rallied with four in a row to even things at 17, but UCLA ended the set on an 8-1 run to win it 25-18. Seven in a row on a Frager kill, two in a row by Buechler, a Felix kill, an MSU attack error and another kill each by Buechler and Felix gave the Bruins six set points. Buechler's fifth kill of the set closed out the seven-point win. Van Winden (4-for-8) and Felix (3-for-4) were both error-free. Formico added seven digs, while Chandler and Miller both had four digs. The Bruins out-hit the Racers .316 to .209.
The Bruins dropped the first point of the third, but then scored the next five and led throughout the remainder of the set. At 5-4, six in a row raised the Bruins' lead to seven. Buechler had two kills during the run, Anderson added a kill, Frager and senior Haley Lawless teamed up for a block and Murray State made two errors. The closest the Racers would get the rest of the way was four. UCLA's biggest margin would be the final score of the third, 25-15. At 18-13, the Bruins scored seven of the last nine, with Buechler contributing four kills during the run, including the last one. She was error-free (9-for-20) in the third. Van Winden added 11 digs, Chandler had six, Formico posted four and Frager had four blocks. The Bruins out-hit the Racers .324 to .041.
Murray State's biggest lead of the fourth was three at 5-2. Trailing 7-5, the Bruins scored 20 of the last 22 to rout the Racers. A 6-0 run on three Felix kills, two by Van Winden and a Racer attack error made it 11-7. After a sideout, the Bruins then scored 10 straight, as Anderson had two kills during the run, Formico served two aces and Felix had a kill and a solo stuff. Following another sideout, the Bruins scored the final four on an Anderson kill, two in a row by freshman Madeleine Gates and a Van Winden/Gates block to finish up the 25-9 win. The Bruins as a team were error-free in the fourth with 17 kills in 32 attempts (.531). Felix was 5-for-6, Anderson 5-for-7 and Van Winden 3-for-7. Formico posted 11 digs.
Team Stats
MUR
UCLA
Kills
51
60
Errors
24
9
Attempts
173
153
Hitting %
.156
.333
Points
51.0
76.0
Assists
47
56
Aces
0
7
Blocks
0.0
9.0
Game Leaders
Kills
21
Aces
0
Blocks
3
Kills
12
Aces
1
Blocks
1
Kills
11
Aces
0
Blocks
2
Kills
9
Aces
1
Blocks
3
Players Mentioned
OH
/ Women's VolleyballOH
/ Women's Volleyball
S
/ Women's VolleyballMB
/ Women's Volleyball
L/DS
/ Women's Volleyball
MB
/ Women's Volleyball
MB
/ Women's Volleyball
OH
/ Women's Volleyball
S
/ Women's VolleyballOPP/OH
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