BRIDGET O’BRIEN/Daily Bruin Senior Staff Erika
Selsor bumps the ball during a recent match against Oregon
State.
By AJ Cadman
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
For the UCLA women’s volleyball team, tonight’s
showdown with USC means much more than calling out the neighbors
for a showdown in their own backyard.
Tonight’s match against the Trojans could either inch the
No. 8 Bruins (10-4 overall, 5-1 Pac-10) one game closer to No. 4
USC (11-0, 6-0) in the Pac-10 standings or drop them even further
after the Bruins split matches against the Oregon schools last
weekend.
“This game is huge,” said UCLA senior middle blocker
Elisabeth Bachman. “The top of the Pac-10 (standings) rest on
this game. They are undefeated and our cross-town rivals, which
helps us focus on want-ing to beat them more.”
Last year, 1999 conference Coach of the Year Jerritt Elliott
lost both contests to the Bruins in her first year at the helm of
the USC team.
The Trojans dropped a tough 3-1 decision to the Bruins last year
to give UCLA a share of the conference championship and a 17-1
Pac-10 record. The two-hour-52-minute thriller featured a 25-kill
performance by UCLA outside hitter Kristee Porter, a draining 19-17
game four victory, and a 20-minute fire alarm delay.
“You definitely have to take North Gym into consideration
when playing at their place,” Bachman said. “With the
rivalry and fan support to go along with what can happen,
it’s a unique place to play.”
USC returns five starters to the lineup, including the talented
hitting duo of Antoinette Polk and Jennifer Pahl. Polk was sixth in
the Pac-10 last season with a 3.82 kill average and fifth with a
3.19 digging clip.
Pahl, meanwhile, was tenth in the conference in hitting with a
.293 percentage, along with her heralded service game. Both have
been mainstays in each category and have been a huge reason for the
Trojans’ early success.
But this has not forced a determined UCLA ballclub to do
anything differently.
“We’ve tried to work within our own system and not
look too closely at trying to shut down a certain player,”
said freshman defensive specialist Stacey Lee. “But we will
expect something exciting to happen when we go over
there.”
UCLA features a similar one-two punch in junior outside hitters
Ashley Bowles and Porter. Both 1999 All-Pac-10 team honorees,
Porter and Bowles combined to average eight kills per game last
season.
Bowles recently joined the 1000th kill club at UCLA with a
seven-kill performance in last Friday’s sweep of the Ducks,
becoming the 18th Bruin to eclipse the mark. Porter topped 1,500
career kills the night before against Oregon State.
The Trojans also feature 5-foot-7-inch setter Tracy Lindquist,
who was tenth in the Pac-10 last season in set assists, with 7.68
per game. Look for her to keep an up-tempo and off-balance
offensive attack similar to that of UCLA’s Erika Selsor, the
top setter in the conference last season with 14.12 set assists per
contest.
Despite the importance of such a big game, UCLA heads towards
the middle of the season knowing that they have the personnel to
win a Pac-10 title and more.
“We definitely need to come out and maintain a high level
of consistency,” said junior opposite hitter Ashley Bowles.
“This is a big match and we need to come in with an
all-around game.”
Practice this week has the Bruins mentally preparing for the
little things that can become roadblocks in their quest for a
national championship.
“We have focused on playing hard and coming together as a
team this week,” Bachman said. “We want to start out
strong and remain a cohesive unit throughout the match.”
“The coaches have tried to help us concentrate on shaking
off errors and not dwelling upon them for the rest of the
match,” Lee said. “If a mistake is made, we just have
to look towards the next point.”
In a game against cross-town rivals, controlling emotions will
be difficult. But the Bruins understand the impact a win tonight
against the top team in the Pac-10 could have.
“I have heard so much about (playing USC) and we know many
of the girls over there,” Lee said. “It is definitely a
rivalry.”