JESSE PORTER/Daily Bruin Senior Staff Elisabeth
Bachman and Erika Selsor will lead the
Bruins against Stanford at Pauley Pavilion. WOMEN’S
VOLLEYBALL PREVIEW vs. Women’s Volleyball Today 7 p.m.
Pauley Pavilion Live broadcast www.uclabruins.com
By AJ Cadman
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
For the UCLA women’s volleyball team, the second season
begins tonight.
Posting a 7-2 record in the first half of the conference season,
the No. 8 Bruins begin their stretch run towards the postseason
against No. 17 Stanford in Pauley Pavilion.
“The bottom line is that this is an important
match,” said UCLA junior setter Erika Selsor. “I think
we match up fairly well. We beat them at home and now they will be
looking to do the same thing.”
Both squads are looking to their superstars to point the way
towards a trip to the NCAA Championships at Richmond, Va., in
December. UCLA junior outside hitter Kristee Porter, the Pac-10
Conference Player of the Week, notched back-to-back 30-kill, 20-dig
matches against the Arizona schools last week.
But if ever there was a player in the nation today that could
match her kill-for-kill, it would be Cardinal sophomore Logan Tom.
The 2000 Olympian returned from her stint with the National Team
last week to lead Stanford with 30 total kills against Bay Area
rival California and No. 18 Long Beach State.
“We are always excited to play Stanford,” Porter
said. “We know Logan will come to play, so the most important
thing above anything else is to just beat them.”
“They’re different now that they have Logan Tom back
in the lineup,” said UCLA head coach Andy Banachowski.
“She brings some stability into their lineup. She helps them
with their ball-handling and opens up their attack a lot more
because of her firepower. When they get in trouble, she’s able to
bail them out.
“They’re a much more dangerous and offensive-minded team
now.”
But for former UCLA volleyball alum and current Stanford head
coach Denise Corlett, the crucial Pac-10 matchup will not come down
to a one-on-one duel between two of the nation’s best
hitters.
“We want to distribute the ball evenly because
that’s where we believe we can be successful,” Corlett
said. “We don’t want to get too caught up in creating passes
and opportunities for Logan. We have a lot of good players and we
struggled early in the season. But we have started to turn a corner
and we must gear up for (Elisabeth) Bachman and Kristee. But we
really are going to just focus on our side of the court.”
The Cardinal features a balanced attack at the net with outside
hitters Tom and Ashley Ivy, to go alongside middle blockers Sara
McGee, Tara Conrad and Jennifer Detmer.
Last Saturday against Long Beach State, Tom and Ivy notched a
match-high 13 kills apiece. Detmer is second in the conference in
blocks (1.61 per game) and atop the charts in hitting percentage
(.411).
With senior leadership in setter Lindsay Kagawa, Stanford has
six players on the court who could pose a problem for the
Bruins
“They are good all around,” Porter said. “They
play good team defense but are young and are still working with
their ball control.”
Stanford is riding a four-match winning streak, its longest of
the 2000 campaign, following a four-match losing skid that included
three-game sweeps by the Los Angeles schools.
The Bruins’ 15-1, 15-2, 15-11 triumph on Sept. 23 at
Maples Pavilion was UCLA’s first since 1993. Detmer was the
only Cardinal to post double-digit kills with 12, while Porter had
26 kills, Bowles had 16 and Bachman had l0.
With back-to-back five-game matches under their belt from over
the weekend, the Bruins are are not planning on devising a new game
plan for when they face a much improved Stanford squad.
“I really think that five-game matches come down to
momentum,” Selsor said. “It can be anyone’s
match. It comes down to who wants it more.”
One thing is for sure, Porter and the Bruins will be ready for
Tom and the Cardinal.
“We are still getting better and better as a team,”
Porter said. “Come Thursday, (my game) will be on.”