Monday, October 27, 1997
Washington Cougars, Huskies take turns to defeat uneven
Bruins
WRAP: Double loss caused by lack of team spirit,
inconsistency
By Jennifer Kollenborn
Daily Bruin Staff
The Washington schools brought their rainy weather to UCLA this
weekend as both Washington State and the University of Washington
washed out the Bruins and in the process shattered any hopes UCLA
had in improving its No. 23 ranking in the AVCA top-25 poll.
UCLA lost to the No. 10 Cougars (7-4 in the Pac 10, 19-4
overall), 19-4 8-15, 15-11, 7-15, 12-15 in two hours and five
minutes in front of 508 spectators in Pauley Pavilion on Friday.
The Bruins continued its four-game losing streak against the No. 21
Huskies (8-3, 13-7) on Sunday in four games 16-14, 9-15, 7-15,10-15
dropping UCLA’s record to (5-6 in the Pac 10, 9-9 overall).
The Bruins’ lack of consistency and overall team chemistry once
again contributed to UCLA’s defeat. Against Washington State, UCLA
only came up with eight blocks to the Cougars fifteen and a half,
while the Cougars out-hit the Bruins .255 to .158. UCLA accumulated
39 total team kill errors in 68 attempts while the Cougars had 23
errors in 64 attempts. In addition, UCLA finished with eight
service errors while the Cougars had five.
Washington State’s top player, No. 12 Jennifer Stinson, drilled
11 kills at a .409 clip while No. 7 Shannon Wyckoff paced the
Cougars defense, notching a team high of 12 team digs. At the same
time, UCLA’s top player, Kara Milling, finished the night with 17
kills in 13 errors leaving her with .087 – a less than stellar
hitting percentage; however, Milling led the Bruins in service aces
at three which all came back-to-back at the end of game two.
Milling’s serving enabled UCLA to get back on their feet and win
game two against the Cougars.
Yet Milling’s outstanding serving was not enough, leaving the
Bruins frustrated at the loss of another match.
"It was a pretty frustrating night, UCLA head coach Andy
Banachowski said. "I was really disappointed. I thought that we had
a real good week of practice and that we’d be able to make a lot
better showing tonight than we did. Washington State frustrated us
with a lot of off-speed attack. They mixed their attack up very
well, and we didn’t respond. We handled the ball poorly tonight and
really weren’t able to score much in transition."
The Bruins seemed unable to pick their heads up after their loss
to the Cougars for they lost in another upsetting match against the
Huskies.
Washington out-hit the Bruins .232 to .175 and out-blocked UCLA
by an unsurmountable 17 to 8. The Huskies top-player, Makare
Desiltets, shut down the Bruin offense, notching a team high of 19
kills at a .292 clip while at the same time leading the Huskie
defense with 11 blocks. Desilets leads the country in blocks per
game with a 1.93 average, while leading the Huskies with 279
kills.
Desilets inspired the Huskies with confidence which may have
been the deciding factor in the match.
"I think that they are playing with a little more confidence
than we are right now," Banachowski said. "They executed very well;
they had good serving which took away some of our options and they
are a good blocking team, and (Desilets) is a very strong player;
she is a senior, she jumps well, and I don’t think we have anyone
who can match her."
But regardless of both the strength of both Washington schools,
perhaps a more important factor which contributed to UCLA’s defeat
over the weekend was the Bruin’s lack of team spirit.
"We didn’t play well," team captain Kara Milling said. "We were
fired up for part of the game, then we would lose it and make a
string of errors, and we can’t do that. Sometimes we play really
well, but there is definitely a lack of team (spirit). We have to
have spirit to win and we had it in game one; we were relaxed and
but we could get the side-outs."
Next up for the Bruins are the Stanford Cardinal. In their last
meeting, Stanford defeated UCLA in three straight games. Hopefully
the Bruins have learned from their Washington defeats. UCLA will
have to improve their consistency and play as a team with more
confidence.
JAMIE SCANLON-JACOBS/Daily Bruin
Amy Nihipali prepares to block against the Wildcats. The Bruins
lost in four games on Sunday in Pauley Pavilion.