University of California, Los Angeles, Athletics
UCLA
California
Historic Match for Felix Propels #18 UCLA to Sweep of California
November 16, 2014 | Women's Volleyball
WVB on Twitter | WVB on Facebook | WVB on Instagram
2014 UCLA Women's Volleyball Schedule | PDF Schedule
2014 UCLA Women's Volleyball Media Guide
LOS ANGELES - Sophomore Claire Felix had a historic match, with 12 kills and no errors in 12 attempts, leading a trio of Bruins in double figures in kills, as the 18th-ranked Bruins swept California on Sunday at the John Wooden Center. Set scores were 25-21, 25-23, 25-15.
Felix's 12-for-12 effort marked the first Bruin ever, with a minimum of 10 attempts, to hit 1.000 in a match. The previous UCLA hitting best was set in 1999 when Elisabeth Bachman posted 15 kills and no errors in 16 attempts for a .938 clip against Washington.
Senior Karsta Lowe recorded 15 kills, a .367 hitting percentage and five digs, while freshman Reily Buechler had 12 kills and just one error in 18 swings for a .611 percentage. Senior Megan Moenoa, making her first start of the season, had 41 assists, seven digs, five kills and two aces. She set the Bruins (18-9, 9-7 Pac-12) to a .419 hitting percentage, as UCLA won its 55th-straight match when hitting .300 or better. Sophomore Taylor Formico had 10 digs, redshirt sophomore Haley Lawless posted six kills, junior Karly Drolson added six digs and two aces and senior Zoë Nightingale tallied five blocks.
The first set was close throughout, with UCLA's largest lead being four and Cal's being three, as the teams combined for six ties and a pair of lead changes. The Golden Bears (9-17, 1-15 Pac-12) held the lead to start things off, scoring five of the first seven points of the match. With Cal still leading 10-7, a Buechler kill, a Bear attack error and a Moenoa ace evened things at 10. UCLA was down 13-11, but a solo block by Nightingale and back-to-back kills for Felix put the Bruins up 14-13.
Despite ties at 14 and 15, the Bruins didn't trail for the rest of the opener. At 15-all, successive kills by Moenoa, Buechler and Lowe put the Bruins ahead 18-15. After Cal scored the next two, Felix and Moenoa kills brought the advantage back up to three at 20-17. The teams sided out the next eight points to give UCLA a set point, and Lowe finished things off with her eighth kill of the set to wrap up a 25-21 win. Buechler added five kills, while Felix was a perfect 4-for-4 on kill attempts. Formico posted six digs, as the Bruins out-hit the Golden Bears .351 to .267.
Just like set one, UCLA scored the first point of set two, Cal would hold the lead for most of the set and the Bruins came back to win. The Golden Bears charged out to set-best five-point leads at 11-6, 13-8 and 14-9 before UCLA chipped away. A 4-0 run on Lawless and Moenoa kills, a Drolson ace and a Buechler kill got the Bruins to within one at 14-13.
Eleven sideouts later, two in a row for the Bears gave the visitors a 21-18 edge, however three straight kills for Felix tied things up. Four sideouts later and even at 23, a Buechler/Nightingale block gave the Bruins set point and a Cal attack error finished up a 25-23 victory for the home team. Felix was 5-for-5 with no errors in the second, Buechler was 5-for-6 with no mistakes and Lawless and Lowe each had three kills. The Bruins were out-hit .433 to .406.
Unlike the first two sets, Cal scored the first point of set three. But the Bruins would score the next four and never trailed after that to finish off the sweep. Three Lowe kills and a Cal error put the Bruins up 4-1, and after a sideout, kills from Lawless and Lowe made it 6-2. Up 8-5, UCLA netted the next four on a Buechler/Nightingale block, an ace and kill by Moenoa and a Cal attack error to go up 12-5.
At 15-10, the Bruins went on a 5-1 run on a kill by Moenoa, a Drolson ace, a Felix kill, a Buechler/Nightingale block and a Cal attack error to go ahead 20-11. UCLA's largest lead would be 10 at 23-13, as the teams sided out from there to wrap up a 25-15 win, as sophomore Jennie Frager posted the match-clinching kill. Lowe was 4-for-5 in kill attempts with no errors, Felix was 3-for-3 and Lawless added three kills. The Bruins hit .542 to Cal's .207 percentage.
The Bruins travel one state up next weekend to take on #10 Oregon on Friday, Nov. 21 at 8 p.m. and Oregon State on Saturday, Nov. 22 at 7 p.m. The UCLA-Oregon matchup will be televised live on Pac-12 Networks, while the UCLA-OSU contest will have a live stream available on UCLABruins.com.
