Bruins Travel to Wisconsin for First Weekend of NCAAs

Friday, December 6

Madison, WI

2:30 PM

UCLA

Notre Dame (First Round)

The Bruins enter the postseason on a four-match winning streak.

Photo by: Percy Anderson

Bruins Travel to Wisconsin for First Weekend of NCAAs

December 04, 2019 | Women's Volleyball

Match Notes

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Match 1
Friday, December 6
Notre Dame vs. No. 24 UCLA
2:30 p.m. PT/4:30 p.m. CT
UW Field House
Madison, Wis.
Free Live Video
Live Stats

Match 2
Friday, December 6
Illinois State at No. 5 (No. 4 seed) Wisconsin
5 p.m. PT/7 p.m. CT
UW Field House
Madison, Wis.
Free Live Video
Live Stats

Match 3
Saturday, December 7
Friday Winners
4 p.m. PT/6 p.m. CT
UW Field House
Madison, Wis.
TV: Big Ten Network
Live Stats

NO. 24 BRUINS HEAD TO MADISON
The 24th-ranked Bruins travel to Madison, Wis. this weekend for the First and Second Rounds of the NCAA Tournament. UCLA will take on Notre Dame on Friday at 2:30 p.m. PT/4:30 p.m. CT at the UW Field House. Friday's second match will feature No. 5 (No. 4 seed) Wisconsin and Illinois State at 5 p.m. PT/7 p.m. CT, with the winners of the First-Round contests meeting on Saturday at 4 p.m. PT/6 p.m. CT. All matches will feature a live video stream and live stats, with links available at UCLABruins.com.

WHAT'S NEXT?
The winner of the Madison Sub-Regional will advance to next weekend's Regional Semifinal against the winner of the College Station Sub-Regional (No. 13 seed Texas A&M, Rice, Oklahoma, St. John's). The Regional host will be the highest seed remaining in the quadrant of the bracket.

MAY NAMED PAC-12 PLAYER OF THE YEAR, NAMED FIRST TEAM WITH SIMO
Junior Mac May became the fifth Bruin, and the first since 1994, to earn Pac-12 Player of the Year honors, as announced by the conference on Tuesday.

May joins Annett Buckner (1994), Julie Bremner (1993), Natalie Williams (1992) and Daiva Tomkus (1989, 1988) as the only other Bruins to earn league POY plaudits.

May, who was named to the All-Pac-12 First Team for the second year in a row, was joined on the First Team by senior Savvy Simo. It is the third Pac-12 accolade for May (Honorable Mention in 2017) and the first for Simo.

May leads the Bruins with 4.77 kills per set, 5.42 points per set and 35 service aces, while ranking third with 2.55 digs per set. She is ninth in the nation in pps, 13th in kps and 41st in attacks per set (11.18). Among Pac-12 players, May is first in pps and aces per set (0.36) and second in kps.
It has been a milestone season for the junior, who became the 29th Bruin to reach 1,000-career kills on Nov. 9 against Utah. Last Friday versus USC, May recorded her 100th career ace, the 19th Bruin to do so. She also became the 13th UCLA player to tally both 1,000 kills and 100 aces.

May, a two-time Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week this season (Oct. 28 and Dec. 2) and AVCA National Player of the Week (Oct. 29), has eight matches with at least 20 kills in 2019 to go with eight double-doubles. May has 25 double-figure kills matches, setting a new career high with 29 against Washington on Oct. 6. At the service line, she has multiple aces nine times on the season, tying a career high with four versus Arizona State on Sept. 29.

Simo ranks second on the team with 3.00 kps, 3.27 dps and 19 service aces. She is the team leader in double-doubles with nine. Simo has 17 double-figure digs matches and 15 double-figure kills contests.

The senior reached a milestone of her own on Nov. 22 against Oregon, when on the second-to-last point of the win, she became the 25th member of the UCLA 1,000-dig club. Simo enters the postseason 21st all-time in digs with 1,040.

Simo had a season-best 20 digs at Washington State on Nov. 1 and set a new career high with 19 kills versus Washington on Oct. 6. She also had a personal-best three aces at California on Nov. 15.

MAY NAMED PAC-12 OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Junior Mac May concluded her outstanding regular season with her second Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week award, as announced by the conference on Monday.

May needed only six sets to produce 38 kills last week (6.33 per set), as the Bruins swept Arizona and USC. She had 21 kills last Wednesday in Tucson, hitting .439 with only three errors in 41 attempts. It was her eighth match this season with at least 20 kills. May added eight digs and two blocks.

Two days later against the cross-town rivals, May posted 17 kills and three errors in 33 attempts for a .424 percentage, adding 14 digs, three aces and a block. It was her eighth double-double of the season, her 25th double-figure kills match and fifth contest with at least three aces. May's first ace of the match was the 100th of her career, as she became the 19th Bruin to notch 100 aces for her career and the 13th to tally both 100 aces and 1,000 kills.

May's award marked the fifth time she has been honored with a Pac-12 weekly accolade and the third time as Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week. She was named Pac-12 OPOW on Oct. 28 following wins over Stanford and Cal, as well as on Sept. 3, 2018. May was Freshman of the Week twice in 2017.

BRUINS IN THE RANKINGS
Junior Mac May is ninth in the nation in points per set (5.42), 13th in kills per set (4.77) and 41st in attacks per set (11.18). As a team, the Bruins are 19th in the country in assists per set (13.15), 24th in kps (13.99) and 38th in hitting percentage (.252). Among Pac-12 teams, UCLA ranks second in aps and kps. May is first in pps and aces per set (0.36) and second in kps, redshirt sophomore Emily Ryan is 10th in blocks per set (1.03) and sophomore Kelli Barry is 10th in digs per set (3.47).

TEAM NOTES
Fourteen of UCLA's 18 victories have been by sweep ... the Bruins hit a season-best .363 in their sweep of Oregon State on Nov. 24. That came just three matches after UCLA set a season high with a .347 percentage in a sweep at California on Nov. 15 ... the Bruins set a season high in blocks (14.5) against Oregon on Nov. 22. UCLA has a pair of matches with double-digit totals in roofs after recording 10 at USC last Friday ... UCLA is undefeated (18-0) when winning the second set and winless (0-11) when dropping the second. The Bruins are also 16-1 when winning set one and 2-10 when losing the opener ... UCLA has won all three matches that have gone the distance ... the Bruins are 17-1 when winning the hitting percentage battle and 16-2 when hitting .250 or better ... UCLA is undefeated (16-0) when limiting its opponents to a .250 hitting percentage or worse ... the Bruins are 15-1 when winning the battle of digs and 10-1 when winning or tying the battle of blocks ... UCLA had eight aces in consecutive matches against USC (Sept. 25) and ASU (Sept. 29). It marked the first time since October 2012 that UCLA had at least eight aces in back-to-back contests ... the Bruins were the last undefeated team in Pac-12 play, starting at 3-0, which marked their first such start since 2007 ... Michael Sealy won his 200th match as a head coach on Sept. 6 versus Texas State.

PLAYER NOTES
**On the second-to-last point of the Nov. 22 victory against Oregon, senior Savvy Simo became the 25th member of the 1,000-dig club. She is up to 1,040 for her career (21st all-time). Next up on the UCLA list are Annett Buckner (20th, 1,047) and Jessica Fine (19th, 1,105).
**Junior Mac May became the 29th Bruin to reach 1,000-career kills on Nov. 9 against No. 16 Utah. Last Friday versus USC, she recorded her 100th ace to become the 19th UCLA player to reach 100 aces and the 13th to post at least 1,000 kills and 100 aces.
**May has at least 20 kills in three of her last four matches, recording 22 against Oregon (Nov. 22), 20 versus Oregon State (Nov. 24) and 21 at Arizona (Nov. 27). She now has 11 20-kill contests for her career, with eight of them coming this season. May is tops on the squad with 25 double-figure kills matches, setting a new career high with 29 against Washington on Oct. 6. May, who has eight double-doubles, also leads the team with 35 service aces, having tallied at least one in 16 of her last 20 matches and multiple aces nine times on the season.
**Simo is the team leader in double-doubles with nine after recording one at Arizona last Wednesday, her third in a row. In the middle match during that streak versus OSU (Nov. 24), Simo hit a career-best .591 with 14 kills and just one hitting error in 22 attempts. Simo had a season-best 20 digs at Washington State on Nov. 1, the fifth time in her career she has reached the 20-dig plateau. She has 17 double-figure digs matches and 15 double-figure kills contests. Simo, who set a new career high in kills (19) on Oct. 6 against Washington, had a personal-best three aces at California on Nov. 15.
**A good barometer of the result of the match is the hitting percentage, and the Bruins have hit at least .280 in 10 of their last 12 wins behind the setting of senior Cali Thompson and sophomore Devon Chang. Thompson picked up her sixth double-double against Oregon on Nov. 22 and has at least one ace in 11 of her 20 Pac-12 matches. Chang notched her second double-double at Oregon State on Oct. 20 and has at least six digs in each of her last four matches.
**Redshirt sophomore Emily Ryan set a new career high in blocks against Oregon (Nov. 22) with 10, as she also posted eight kills. Ryan was perfect in a Nov. 15 match at California when she had seven kills and no errors in seven attempts. She was also error-free at Oregon State (11-0-20) on Oct. 20 when she added seven blocks.
**Sophomore Kelli Barry has double figures in digs in three of her last four matches, totaling 18 against Oregon, 10 versus Oregon State and 11 at USC. She has at least 10 digs in 19 matches this season. Barry posted the first double-double of her Bruin career with 17 digs and 10 assists on Oct. 27 against California. She also has an ace in seven of her last 15.
**Redshirt freshman Lexi Hadrych has double figures in kills six times this season, posting a career-best 15 at Oregon State on Oct. 20. She has hit over .300 in a match six times since October began. Hadrych also set a new career high with six blocks versus Oregon (Nov. 22).
**Junior Jenny Mosser recorded nine kills in last Friday's win at USC. She notched her third double-figure kills match of the season with 10 on Oct. 27 against California. Her season high in kills is 14 versus Washington State (Oct. 4). Mosser tied a career high with four aces on Oct. 18 at Oregon.
**Over her last seven matches, redshirt sophomore Sabrina Smith has 20 kills and two errors in 41 attempts for a .439 hitting percentage. She was 7-for-10 with no errors against Oregon on Nov. 22. Smith tied a career high with seven blocks versus Utah on Nov. 9, equaling the total she had against California on Oct. 27.

SCOUTING THE NOTRE DAME FIGHTING IRISH
Notre Dame (19-9, 12-6 ACC) has dropped three of its last five entering the postseason, but come in on a winning note following a four-set victory over Duke last Friday. The Fighting Irish are averaging 13.04 kills, 1.25 aces, 15.40 digs and 2.21 blocks per set, hitting .207 as a team. Three players are averaging at least three kills per set. Sophomore Charley Niego is first with 3.58 kps, followed by sophomore Sydney Bent (3.29) and freshman Caroline Meuth (3.17). Sophomore Zoe Nunez handles the setting duties and is posting 10.63 assists per set. Junior Madison Cruzado is first with 3.87 digs per set, while graduate student Kristin Baer is tops with 1.05 blocks per set.

SCOUTING THE WISCONSIN BADGERS
Wisconsin (22-6, 18-2 Big Ten) claimed the Big Ten Conference title with a sweep of Rutgers last Saturday and enters the postseason having won six of its last seven. The Badgers are averaging 14.51 kills, 1.66 aces, 14.82 digs and 2.48 blocks per set, hitting .295 as a team. Junior Dana Rettke (3.77), redshirt junior Molly Haggerty (3.48) and junior Grace Loberg (3.19) are each averaging over three kills per set. Junior Sydney Hilley quarterbacks the offense and is posting 12.16 assists per set. Senior Tiffany Clark tops the team with 3.89 digs per set, while Rettke (1.40) and redshirt sophomore Danielle Hart (1.08) are both posting over a block per set.

SCOUTING THE ILLINOIS STATE REDBIRDS
Illinois State (22-11, 12-6 Missouri Valley) enters the postseason on an eight-match winning streak, including three in a row at the Missouri Valley Tournament to win the league's automatic bid. The Redbirds are averaging 13.78 kills, 1.41 aces, 16.65 digs and 2.34 blocks per set, hitting .218 as a team. Junior Kaylee Martin is tops on the squad with 3.99 kills per set, while junior Sydney Holt is second at 2.58. Junior Stef Jankiewicz handles the setting duties and is posting 11.14 assists per set. Freshman Kaity Weimerskirch is first with 3.91 digs per set, while Holt is first with 1.22 blocks per set.

BRUINS VERSUS THE WEEKEND FIELD
The Bruins are 3-0 all-time against Notre Dame, but the two teams haven't played since Aug. 24, 2012 in Lincoln, Neb., when UCLA prevailed in four sets. The Bruins won in three at Notre Dame in 2000 and swept the Irish, again in Lincoln, in 2001 ... UCLA and Wisconsin have split the previous four matchups, with the Bruins winning in four sets in Madison in 1990 and in three in Illinois in 1994. The Badgers claimed home victories in five sets in 2000 and in three in 2005 ... UCLA and Illinois State have met just once, with the Bruins sweeping the Redbirds at Loyola Marymount in 2016.