Tuesday, October 20, 1998
Bruins extend winning steak at home
RECAP: After faltering, team scores impressive victories, shows
ability to hang tough, deal with pressure
By Nick Taylor
Daily Bruin Contributor
The UCLA women’s volleyball team took advantage of its home
court edge and swept the Washington schools over the weekend.
UCLA beat Washington in four sets on Friday (15-6, 15-3, 7-15,
15-8), and followed on Sunday with a straight set victory over
Washington State (15-8, 16-14, 15-9).
The Bruins improved to 7-9, including 6-3 and fourth place in
the conference. They took advantage of Wednesday night’s huge win
over fourth-ranked Santa Barbara and used that momentum in both
games this weekend.
Friday’s match against the Huskies started when Elisabeth
Bachman forced a sideout, Chaska Potter served and Erika Selsor set
up Kristee Porter for the kill.
While the Bruins took the first two sets easily, the Huskies did
battle back behind Kristina Laffling’s 23 kills, and forced the
match to four sets before UCLA closed them out.
The Bruins held the Huskies’ best player, Laffling, to only five
kills. In the third set UCLA slipped, as the Huskies hit .600 (26
kills out of 40, with only two errors). Laffling hit 12 kills in
that set in leading them to a 15-7 win, and suddenly UCLA had a
ballgame on its hands.
Coach Andy Banachowski said the Bruins had a letdown in the
third set despite the fact they hit twice as well. Early in the
match, Washington didn’t go to Laffling as much as expected.
Washington reeled off seven straight points to finish the third
set, and then took a 4-1 lead in the fourth. But Porter came up
with a clutch kill to earn a sideout, and then Bowles went to work.
Six kills by Bowles early, mixed in with four Bachman kills and
blocks, led UCLA on a 9-0 run to take control of the match.
Banachowski said, "We mixed up our attack well and ran their
blockers off. "
UCLA extended its cushion to 14-5 before closing out the Huskies
at 15-8 in the fourth. UCLA got outstanding play from Porter (22
kills, 6 digs), Bowles (20 kills, 17 digs for another
double-double) and Bachman (15 kills, 6 block assists) in the
match.
UCLA fell behind early, 3-0 in the first set, before hitting on
all cylinders Sunday. UCLA’s four-headed attack of Bachman, Bowles,
Porter and Nihipali went to work on a 7-1 run, which forced a
Cougar timeout at 7-4.
The Cougars could not slow UCLA’s momentum, as the Bruins
continued to attack and over-power their opponents en route to a
15-8 1st set victory. Bowles and Porter both had six kills in nine
attempts, with no errors. UCLA hit .471 as a team in the first
set.
UCLA was able to beat Washington State in straight sets, but not
until after a hard-fought, anybody’s game second set. This set
featured many long points and sideouts, and UCLA hit .129.
However, the Bruin defense held Washington State to only .143 in
hitting. The Cougars came back to 13-14, and had two set-points,
but each time Porter came up with the clutch kill, including one
that landed right down the line. The Bruins got the serve back, and
Bowles and Bachman added kills to finish the second set at
16-14.
"Sometimes, a young team can’t come back from those kind of
deficits, but we showed tenacity out there and did come back, "
Banachowski said.
The third set was more of the same, as Washington State held an
8-6 advantage. Banachowski took timeout, the Bruins focused, and
the Cougars were effectively spiked.
A UCLA 9-1 run closed out the sweep for the Bruins as Nihipali
hit three crushing kills to begin the run, and Porter followed with
another three kills.
Porter had 20 kills in the match, 42 for the series and 80 over
the three-game homestand. Bowles, while providing the all-around
play the Bruins can count on (a team-high 12 digs and another
double-double), could only manage a .057 hitting percentage as she
struggled with finding the blockers in the Cougar defense.
But Bachman led the Bruins with a .382 hitting percentage and
spiked 16 kills.
Bachman said, "This was a very big week, a good step for us.
"
UCLA will try to extend a four-game winning streak in Corvallis
on Friday against Oregon State. The team will follow that with a
Sunday afternoon match in Eugene against the Ducks.BAHMAN
FARAHDEL/Daily Bruin
Elisabeth Anne Bachman hits one by a Washington block Friday
night at Pauley Pavilion.
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