CATHY JUN Kristee Porter attacks the
ball as Stacy Lee and Elisabeth
Bachman move in to cover as the Bruins shut down Stanford
in three straight games at Pauley Pavilion Thursday night.
UCLA d. Stanford 15-2, 15-9, 15-6
By Christina Teller
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
If you had blinked, you may have missed the match. But if you
did, you would have missed the UCLA women’s volleyball
team’s (13-5 overall, 8-2 Pac-10) best showing at home thus
far as they defeated Stanford (11-7, 5-5) 15-2, 15-9, 15-6.
With the hype of the return of Olympic team member and Stanford
sophomore Logan Tom, the match was expected to be more, well,
anything than it was.
But the Bruins played their game, shut down the hype and proved
that they can sweep Stanford with or without Logan.
“All the hype surrounding the match got us fired up and
motivated us tonight,” junior Ashley Bowles said.
To start out the match, the Bruins rattled off five unanswered
points behind the serving of freshman Stacy Lee, whereupon Jennifer
Detmer posted the Cardinal’s first kill of the match.
The Bruins would hold Stanford to only two points and a -.091
hitting percentage in the game, as sophomore Lauren Fendrick
tallied three kills, six service points and two digs.
Stanford put up more of a fight in the second game, by keeping
it within one until the score read 9-9. Once the Bruins took the
lead at 10-9 off of a Cardinal mis-hit, the Bruins never looked
back.
WOMEN’S VOLEYBALL vs. Tonight at 7 p.m. Pauley
Pavilion live – uclabruins.com Bowles carried UCLA
to 13 points with her consistent serves, and the game closed at
15-9 with a Kristee Porter kill.
Game three started out as a battle, and it looked as though the
Bruins had finally pulled away once they stretched their lead to
6-4, but Stanford capitalized on a series of Bruin errors to tie up
the score at 6-6.
But again, it was Fendrick from the back line that helped pull
the Bruins ahead with six straight service points, including two
straight aces, bringing the score to 12-6.
Erika Selsor closed out the game and match at 15-6 with her two
service points to bring the Bruins to their second-straight sweep
of Stanford.
“We were all on the same page and we were all really
focused,” Fendrick said. “The team played really well
in all aspects.”
A Bruin team that has struggled this season at playing together
throughout the duration of their matches proved tonight that they
can.
“We got fired up for this match and were able to play a
full match with consistency and intensity,” Bowles said.
The strong play by the Bruins paired with the lack of attack
from Stanford allowed the match to culminate in one hour and
fifteen minutes.
“I expected a long match like we had the weekend before.
We did a great job at serving and putting them in trouble,”
UCLA head coach Andy Banachowski said.
Ironically, the Bruins posted just one block fewer against
Stanford than they had in the 5-game loss to USC.
But those eight blocks last night proved to be all that they
needed, limiting Stanford to a .115 hitting percentage.
But the Bruins didn’t post huge figures themselves.
With Elisabeth Bachman and Fendrick each posting a team-high
nine kills, and Porter only adding seven of her own, it seemed that
UCLA didn’t need much offense tonight to take the win.
Up against Cal (9-8, 4-6) tonight, a team known for its solid
defense and strong attack, UCLA cannot overlook their unranked
opponent.
But, “If we play the way we played tonight, we’ll be
in good shape,” Fendrick said.