The UCLA Women's Club Volleyball team traveled to Kansas City, Missouri in April, 2023 to compete in the end of the year National Tournament. They would be competing in Division 1, against all of the top schools in the nation.
Going into the tournament ranked 14 they had much to prove.
Starting off the tournament strong going undefeated day one, the Bruins had their eye on the prize. This smooth sailing ended when they suffered a tough loss in the A.M. of day two. After losing this game they needed to win all of the games the rest of the day to qualify for the gold bracket. Succeeding in this, a spot was clinched in Gold bracket going into the playoffs.
It was now single elimination, you loose and you're out. This stuck in the Bruins mind as they went through the day winning game after game, you could see the fire in their eyes. With much support from the UCLA B team and the UCLA Club Men's team, in a hard fought win against University of Michigan, the Bruins were on their way to the finals.
It just so happened that the other side of the bracket in the semi finals was UC Berkeley and USC. Either of the two would have been fierce opponents creating a wild game environment in the gym.
USC came out on top and it was now a classic UCLA vs. USC game.
The finals were played on a single court in a large arena with thousands of people in the stands. The Bruins won set one easily and it looked as though they were about to become the national champions. The atmosphere in the gym was electric, after the Bruins won the first set the DJ had put on the song "Sweet Caroline" and the team joined the crowd in singing the chorus. Sitting close to the court were the UCLA Mens team and the B team cheering for each play.
However it was still anyone's game, and all hope was lost when USC came back in the second set with much more fire than before, causing the Bruins to fall in the next two sets, making USC the new national champions. The Bruins are set to compete in the tournament again in the upcoming year, starting practices early fall quarter in hopes of reaching this position again, but this time taking it all.
