Volley gets two easy ones
No. 4 Bruins team plays last place Oregon at Wooden Center
tonight
By Eric Branch
Daily Bruin Staff
After spending their last two matches battling the bourgeois of
the Pacific-10, the fourth-ranked UCLA women’s volleyball team will
spend the weekend entertaining the proletariat of the
conference.
Coming off a four-game defeat to top-ranked Stanford last
Saturday in Palo Alto and a marathon, two-and-a-half-hour,
five-game victory over 15th-ranked USC on Wednesday, the Bruins can
apparently breath slightly easier as Oregon (6-10 overall, 0-7 in
Pac-10) and Oregon State (11-6, 2-5) crawl into Westwood.
While the Ducks and Beavers combined 1-36 career record against
UCLA (16-2, 6-1) is less than awe inspiring, head coach Andy
Banachowski is aware of the potential problems in playing the
conference featherweights.
"Suffering a letdown is something we have to be worried about,"
Banachowski said. "But right now we have put ourselves in good
position in the Pac-10 race, which is not something we want to
jeopardize."
While a letdown is cause for concern, the Bruins might have to
be catatonic on Friday night to let the Ducks spoil a run at the
conference championship. Mired in last place, Oregon enters the
Wooden Center on the heels of a nine-game losing streak, with
home-court sweeps at the hands of ninth-place California and Cal
State Northridge included in the skid.
On the other hand, Oregon State, UCLA’s opponent Saturday night,
might be the best eighth-place team in the country. Each of the six
opponents to defeat the Beavers have been ranked in the top 25 at
one point during the season. Although the Bruins figure to continue
the losing streak, OSU will feature a slew of big guns.
Among OSU’s five returning starters is All-Pac-10 senior outside
hitter Shelly Smith. Smith led the Pac-10 in kills and kills per
game last season. Her 564 season total set a new school record.
"Shelly has always been a big gun on the outside," Banachowski
said. "She has been the steadiest player on their team for
years."
While Smith has been a consistent pinnacle of excellence in
Corvalis, it is 6-foot-3-inch sophomore middle blocker Staci Hintze
who leads the Beavers in kills this year with 3.4 per game. Her
.365 hitting percentage places her third in the Pac-10. Alongside
senior middle blocker Tanya Lifa, who ranks third in the conference
with 1.55 blocks per game, the Beavers possess a formidable pair of
blockers in the middle.