JESSE PORTER/Daily Bruin Senior Staff Erika
Selsor jump serves in a match last month. Her serving
helped the Bruins defeat ASU on Friday. UCLA d. Arizona
State 11-15, 15-10, 6-15, 15-12, 15-11
By Christina Teller
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
Coming off a five-game win over previously undefeated Arizona,
the UCLA women’s volleyball team (12-5 overall, 7-2 Pac-10)
headed into the match against Arizona State (12-7, 4-5) with one
objective in mind: to keep on winning.
What they hadn’t expected was that it was going to be
another grueling five-game match and that they would again work
through it and win 11-15, 15-10, 6-15, 15-12 and 15-11.
“It’s a great confidence booster,” junior
outside hitter Ashley Bowles said. “We had a couple losses at
the beginning of the season. But it’s how you end the season,
and pulling out these two wins will carry us through the end of the
season.”
Walking away from an intense 2 hour and 40 minute match as the
winner means more than notching another victory.
It proves to the members that they can work together as a team.
Battling from behind in four out of five games, the Bruins all
chipped in to counter-attack the relentless Sun Devil attack.
Kristee Porter led the team with 36 kills and 21 digs while Lauren
Fendrick notched 11 kills and 23 digs. Bowles added 16 kills of her
own, while Erika Selsor dished out 52 assists.
ASU didn’t make it easy for the Bruins, posting a .203
hitting percentage to the Bruins’ .186, with 23 kills from
senior Amanda Burbridge and 20 kills from junior Jami Coughlin.
“Like (head coach Andy Banachowski) said, “˜We dodged
a lot of bullets tonight,'” Bowles said.
The Sun Devils pulled away with a quick 10-3 lead in game one,
but the Bruins battled back with seven service points from Selsor.
ASU eventually closed the game at 15-11.
“After losing the first game I just thought, “˜We
have another game and we have to go out and play hard and to win
it,'” Porter said.
And they did, but it didn’t come without a fight. ASU
started out with a 5-1 lead and pulled further ahead to 9-4. The
Bruins eventually tied it up at nine and finished the game at
15-10.
Once ASU commanded a 12-3 lead off of 11 straight service
points. The Bruins only scored three more points before the Sun
Devils closed it out at 15-6.
It was the final two games that showed the Bruins’
grit.
“In games four and five we were steady out there and came
out together,” Selsor said. “If we could have done
better maybe we would not have had to do that (play a fourth and
fifth game), but when things got tight, we came up with what we
needed.”
Entering game four, down 1-2, it was a must-win for the Bruins
and they pulled together against the Sun Devils’ growing
momentum. The teams battled through the first seven points with
UCLA’s biggest lead at 5-2. After a television timeout, the
Sun Devils pulled away to a 12-7 lead, but UCLA retaliated behind
the steady serving of Erika Selsor. The Bruins closed out the game
15-12, which brought the match to a rally scoring fifth game.
For the Bruins, a loss would push them out of second place in
conference standings, and for the Sun Devils, a loss would separate
them further from the top of the Pac.
ASU took an early 4-3 lead in the game, but the Bruins then
assumed that role, pushing the score to 5-4 off of a kill from Ella
Harley and one from Porter.
It appeared that the Bruins had taken control of the game with a
10-7 lead, but the Sun Devils came back to tie it up. With the
score tied up at 11, it was Selsor’s steady serving and two
kills apiece from Porter and Bowles that put the match away
15-11.
Posting her second 20-20 match in a row, Porter helped her team
remain consistent and strong throughout the match.
“She played well this weekend,” Selsor said.
“We rely on our hitters, Kristee and Ashley and Wiz, and last
night it turned out to be Kristee, and she came up big for
us.”
The weekend in Arizona may have been a challenging one, but the
Bruins played like they knew they could.
They have gained control over the inconsistency that plagued
them in previous matches this season. With their play this weekend,
the Bruins followed through on the threat that their well-rounded
roster poses.
With four players posting double figure kills and five
contributing double-digit digs, the Bruins look on track for
upcoming matches.
Arizona’s loss to UCLA and their win over USC shuffled the
Pac-10 standings from where they were at the beginning of the
weekend. Arizona and USC are now tied for first with the Bruins in
a close second.
It just goes to show that anything can happen with the caliber
of competition in the Pac-10 conference.