Lady Bruins down Penn State in third round of 2011 NCAA tournament – Volleyball News
The Lady Bruins of UCLA posted a straight set win over Penn State on Friday, December 9, and advanced to the regional finals of the 2011 NCAA tournament. They displayed incredible action on the centre court and grabbed 3-0 (25-20, 25-22, 25-21), while playing
against Nittany Lions of Penn State. The 9th-seeded Bruins sidelined No.8 Penn State from the NCAA campaign and also put an end to their season by 25-8. Victory enabled the Bruins to qualify for their first regional final since 2007. In the next run, Bruins
(27-6) will meet the top-seeded Texas on Saturday.
Key players
Senior outside hitter (OH) Kelly Reeves of Bruins was the real winner of the match. She recorded a hitting percentage of .474 and committed only 2 errors in 19 attack attempts. She perfectly executed 17 kills and led her team to success. Equally talented
Kidder also joined hands with Reeves and showcased her amazing game tactics. Senior Lainey Gera and Lauren Van Orden dished out 15 and 8 digs, respectively. Junior Tabi Love and sophomore Mariana Aquino notched seven and five kills.
Three players of Penn State tallied double-digit kills with freshman Aiyana Whitney leading the way with 12. Sophomore Ariel Scott and Deja McClendon were second and third with 11 and 10 kills, respectively. Freshman Micha Hancock, the AVCA Mideast Freshman
of the Year, contributed 38 assists in the match.
Match overview
The Nittany Lions started out on strong footing and led the scores at 4-1, 9-6, 10-7, and 11-8. The UCLA responded with back to back attacks and chased the score at 12-all. In the next few minutes, four straight points by Bruins, a service error by PSU,
and a pair of combo blocks from Reeves and Aquino put UCLA in lead, 16-13. The Bruins incorporated variety of attack shots and pushed Penn State behind the attack line. First set reached its end with final score of 25-20, while UCLA enjoyed the better status.
Second set of the game was all about Bruins. They kept the operations well under hand from start to end. They used the winning momentum and dominated the Nittany Lions. After the second technical timeout, the PSU Lions raised heads and overcame the deficit.
Nonetheless, UCLA extended its lead to 2-0 by closing second set 25-22.
The Bruins jumped out to an 8-1 lead in the third stanza. Reeves and Nightingale formed a great combo and hit unstoppable shots. Penn State was dragged under pressure, which further affected their performance. They tried to come out of blues via better combination
of attack and defence. However, they couldn’t avoid the chances of defeat and lost the third set by 25-21. UCLA walked away with 3-0 victory and also earned ticket to the regional final.
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