Monday, November 10, 1997
Spikers triumph over Oregon teams
WRAP: NCAA hopes kept alive; Milling reaches 1,500 milestone in
kills
By Jennifer Kollenborn
Daily Bruin Staff
In a moment of frenzied excitement, senior captain Kara Milling
jumped to the volleyball, drilling it straight through Oregon State
blocker, Miya Malauulu. The kill gave UCLA a side-out with the
Bruins in the lead at 3-1 and foreshadowed UCLA’s winning momentum
to the end of the match where Milling was the only player to reach
double-digits past 20 in two categories – kills at 21 and digs at
20. Milling’s third kill of the night engraved her name in UCLA’s
history book, as she is only the sixth Bruin to reach the 1,500
mark, just behind Kim Krull with 1575.
Not to mention Milling’s outstanding milestone gave her and the
Bruins the coveted win en route to the NCAA tournament which is
only three weeks away.
In both games against the Oregon teams this past weekend, UCLA
came out on top.
UCLA (7-8 in the Pac-10, 12-10 overall) defeated the Oregon
State Beavers (5-8, 14-12), 15-4, 11-15, 15-13, 15-7, on Friday in
Pauley Pavilion in front of 677 spectators. The match extended the
length of two hours and fifteen minutes allowing eight players to
reach the double-digits plateau in kills.
In a match where UCLA barely outhit the Beavers .269 to .225 and
the Beavers outblocked the Bruins 13 to 8, UCLA’s strong and
consistent serving as well as its steady passing won the game.
"We didn’t do two things at a high enough level for a long
enough period of time; we didn’t serve well enough or pass well
enough and everything else stemmed from that," head coach of the
Beavers Jeff Mozzochi said, whose team has never won a game against
UCLA and the Bruins lead the series 25-0.
Because Oregon State wasn’t serving tough enough – accumulating
six service errors and finishing the night without any ace serves –
it allowed UCLA to run its offense effectively for a longer period
of time.
"Our offense was becoming predictable because we weren’t
changing up the passing," Mozzochi said. "When you get two teams
that are fairly evenly matched, the team that does those two things
the best for the longest period of time usually wins, and UCLA dug
a lot of balls, so even if they weren’t stuff blocking the ball –
it’s easier for them to play defense behind that block because its
so large."
UCLA is currently hitting for an average of .230 to Oregon
State’s .245, the Bruins average 3.28 blocks per game to Oregon
State’s 3.08, and the Bruins are No. 1 nationally in digs, at 16.89
digs per game, where the Beaver’s average is 15.44 dpg.
UCLA accumulated nine service errors, but not before it lofted
six service aces. Both Milling and Celeste Peterson put up two
while Suzy Morris and Michelle Quon each nailed one.
The Bruins topped the charts with freshman Amy Nihipali who led
UCLA’s attack at an insurmountable .571 clip with 14 kills and only
two errors while adding a team high of five blocks. The other three
players to reach double-digits in kills for the Bruins were
Peterson with 20, Milling with 21, Tanisha Larkin with 15, and
Tamika Johnson at 19.
On the other side of the net, outside hitter Heather Lowe
notched 22 kills for a .207 clip, adding 11 digs; Pia Ahlengard had
14 kills for a .333 average; middle blocker Krista Kinsman drilled
13 at .333 also.
UCLA appeared to be more relaxed and comfortable on the court,
which was reflected in their effective pass performance and serving
accuracy.
"I thought we played some pretty good defense tonight, UCLA head
coach Andy Banachowski said. We served well and we were really good
at siding out. Then, we scrambled and were finally able to score
some points in transition; we weren’t able to score off the block
tonight. We out-dug them tonight and they certainly outblocked
us."
The Bruins maintained its controlled play against the Oregon
Ducks (0-14, 8-18) on Saturday, sweeping in three straight games
15-7, 15-7, 15-10 in only one hour and 42 minutes.
The Ducks outblocked the Bruins 10 to 9 and UCLA outhit the
Ducks .295 to .217.
UCLA served well, putting up 15 service aces to the Ducks 5.
UCLA’s Milling led with 5 service aces (the same amount Oregon
produced for the match) while also hitting a team high of .441 with
19 kills; Peterson hit .429 with 12 kills and 4 service aces;
Johnson produced 10 kills at a .304 clip while adding 2 service
aces and 5 blocks; defensive back-court specialist, Michelle Quon
nailed 2 service aces.
The Ducks were led by Michelle Christ who posted 14 kills at a
.407 clip and Madeline Ernst who produced 13 kills at a .370
average.
With only four games left in the Bruin’s Pac-10 conference play,
the two victories against the Oregon schools extended UCLA’s three
game winning streak, giving the Bruins the winning drive they need
to put them in place for a NCAA tournament berth.
"After playing well in the two victories this weekend, we have
more confidence going into our upcoming match against USC,"
Banachowski said. "We need to continue to play well against the
remaining nationally ranked teams on our schedule in order to
assure our chances at getting into the NCAA tournament (commencing
on Dec. 4)."
The Bruin’s next scheduled match is Nov. 14 against USC at 7
p.m. in USC’s Lion Center.