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  Ella Harley is a redshirt freshman on the women’s volleyball team, and one of two middle blockers in the team’s regular rotation. Interview conducted by Christina Teller, Daily Bruin Senior Staff.

This season has been fun because I redshirted last year and it was really boring not being able to play. But I get to play now and I don’t have to sit around. It’s been a good season to have as my first because we’ve been doing really well, and we have a good chance to win.

I’m excited about playing in the tournament; I’m not really nervous. It’s just another game, and we have played most of the top teams already this season. There’s nothing we haven’t seen.

We’ve been talking about the tournament since we lost to Penn State last year before the Final Four. Right after Penn State, everyone worked really hard. Most everyone stayed during the summer and made huge commitments to work hard.

We lost only one player from last year’s team, and now we can only get better. We knew we were coming in in a really good position this year, and we have a lot of confidence and work so hard.

We’ve talked about other rounds than the first, but we are going into each game thinking about that game because we have lost to teams that we shouldn’t have, and we need to respect every opponent, no matter what.

We expect to win against Morgan State, and I am confident, but not to the point of thinking that they’re going to lose – they’re going to work hard, too. Every game could be our last game, and after every game, I just want to know that I gave it my all. That’s all I can really do. Even though it’s always been my goal, it’s even more so now.

I get excited for big games and expect myself to play harder and get bigger. You just jump higher. That’s one thing we always say is “get bigger.” You can feel yourself get bigger.

We just played in the Baylor tournament on the road, it’s fun going on the road because you get to beat a team in their own place. Our team feeds off of other team’s crowds. But the worst part about going on the road is you kind of have a lot of waiting. It’s good that our last match was on the road and we played against a strong team.

We were at the Baylor tournament for Thanksgiving. It was fun, but I’d rather go home. Since we couldn’t, it was nice to be at a house and have food. It was nice to go to (assistant coach) Kim’s (Jagd) house. If I couldn’t go home, then I would want to spend it with the girls because we’re all friends.

We are all very close. We like hanging out with each other on and off the court, and I think we’re all really funny. Everyone is very different and we mesh well together. We feed off each other, but we get in trouble. Sometimes we’ll get the coaches to crack smiles. They know the things that we think are funny, and when they say them it’s even funnier. They usually try to keep up the whole coach thing. They get frustrated with us sometimes though.

Before every game, when we come into the middle to cheer, most teams say “intensity” or “win,” but we always say really funny things – inside jokes like “drop the panties.” We always say that one. We always seem business-like, but there’s always funny stuff. When I’m up at the net, we’re always cracking jokes to keep it light. We don’t talk trash. We just say it to each other.

There are never fights on the team. There really aren’t egos on the team. (Kristee) Porter is the best player, and she doesn’t have an ego. Everyone is good. Even girls who don’t play as much. It’s a team effort.

Everyone on the team is so competitive. We’re so hard on ourselves and want to be perfect. I think it’s part of being a UCLA volleyball player. You expect to be the best, and when you do something wrong and when someone gets frustrated, you know everyone is there for you. You know you’re not going to make or break the game. It’s a nice feeling to know it goes both ways.

This season has been fun, but it’s been painful in a way because we’re so good and we’ve done dumb things and lost stupid games. It’s frustrating because we know how good we are, and it hurts when you lose games you shouldn’t. But it’s been fun, and I’m excited because a lot of opportunities are up ahead for us.