When UCLA won the NCAA women's volleyball title in 2011, Karsta Lowe was a freshman in an understudy role. She had not really committed to the sport until later in high school -- she also had excelled at tennis -- and as a result got almost no interest from recruiters at big-time volleyball programs, which seems unfathomable now.
Lowe decided to walk on at UCLA. During the course of her first season, it became clear to the Bruins what kind of raw but vast talent they had in Lowe, and she went on scholarship. She got a chance to play in the 2011 championship match, but her job that first season mostly was watching and learning from star outside hitters Rachael Kidder, Tabi Love and Kelly Reeves.
Each season since, Lowe has improved. Now she's a senior standout and one of the best hitters in the county. After leading the Bruins to victories over then-No. 10 Oregon and Oregon State, Lowe is our espnW national player of the week.
In the 3-1 win over the Ducks, Lowe had 33 kills and hit .473 percent. That kill total is a UCLA single-match record in the rally-scoring era, which began in 2001. Then in a 3-2 win against the Beavers, Lowe had 21 kills. She had a combined 12 digs in the two matches.
The 6-foot-4 Lowe was born and grew up in a city known for its volleyball talent, San Diego. She has developed her power considerably as a college player, and her physicality and strength bode well for her postcollegiate future.
Lowe has 386 kills this season; her average of 6.03 kills per set leads Division I. She has 120 digs and 44 blocks for the Bruins, who at 14-5 are ranked No. 17 in this week's American Volleyball Coaches Association poll.
The next two weeks are big for Lowe and the Bruins. They play at No. 1 Stanford on Friday. The following Friday, on Halloween, UCLA will be host to No. 3 Washington. Both the Cardinal and the Huskies are undefeated, but UCLA gave Washington one of its toughest matches earlier this season in Seattle.
Lowe had 28 kills in that 3-2 loss to the Huskies on Oct. 3 -- but also 19 errors. How she handles the defense of Stanford and then Washington in the rematch will be interesting to see. Lowe is the type of player who really seems to be getting better every match, and she is well on her way to a pretty epic senior year.