Bruins Open at Home with USC, Washington

LOS ANGELES – The UCLA women’s volleyball team begins its Pac-12 slate of competition with its first home contests of the season versus USC on Thursday, Sept. 22 at 7 p.m. PT and No. 18 Washington on Sunday, Sept. 25, 2022 at 3 p.m. The Bruins’ (6-3) matchup with the Trojans (8-3) can be watched on the Pac-12 Network and its Sunday matinee with the Huskies (8-2) on ESPNU.

Outside hitter élan McCall is the Bruins’ top point scorer with a team-best 3.35 kills per set while also ranking second on the squad with 2.87 digs per set. Middle blocker Francesca Alupei leads the conference with 1.57 blocks per set. UCLA has reached double-digit blocking numbers in five of its nine matches this season, with a team-high 20 blocks coming in the Bruins’ season opener at Utah State on Aug. 26.

 

Weekend Recap

The Bruins split a pair of matches in their final preseason road trip to San Diego. UCLA disposed of San Diego State in three sets behind a .273 hitting percentage and followed that with straight set loss to its only ranked opponent so far this season, No. 8 San Diego. Francesca Alupei put up a career-high 11 kills at a .529 clip while fellow middle blocker Anna Dodson was near perfect with six kills on just seven attempts. Against the Toreros, the Bruins were limited to .181 and hit 18 attack errors over the three sets.

 

Noting the Bruins

• The Bruins finished the preseason with a 6-3 record after falling to No. 8 San Diego on Friday, 3-0. élan McCall, Iman Ndiaye and Grayce Olson each led UCLA with eight kills apiece. It was the second time two weeks that UCLA had been swept, last coming against Loyola Marymount on Sept. 8.

• The Bruins are hitting .200 as a team and holding their opponents to .138, which ranks eighth nationally and second in the Pac-12.

• UCLA ranks fifth in the country and first in the conference in blocks per set at 3.10.

• Middle blocker Francesca Alupei is averaging a Pac-12-best 1.57 blocks per set, good for fifth in the country.

• Alupei has had the two highest block outputs of her career so far in the early season, with nine total roofs against Hawai’i on Sept. 4 and another nine against San Diego State on Sept. 15.

• élan McCall leads the Bruins with 3.35 kills per set and ranks second with 2.87 digs per set.

• McCall currently has 934 career kills across…