JESSE PORTER/Daily Bruin Senior Staff Lauren
Fendrick goes up for a kill against Southern Cal in a
match earlier this season.
By AJ Cadman
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
For the No. 10 UCLA women’s volleyball team, the second
season is just two weeks away. But the Bruins have some unfinished
business to settle this weekend before they begin their run through
the NCAA Tournament.
UCLA (19-6, 13-3 Pac-10) travels up north on the final weekend
of the conference season to wage battle against Washington State
(17-8, 8-8) tonight at 7 p.m. in Bohler Gym in Pullman, Wash. The
Bruins will then finish their regular season schedule on Friday
night with a match at Washington (7-17, 2-14) in Seattle, also at 7
p.m.
Head coach Andy Banachowski’s squad finds itself out of
the race for Pac-10 title following a tough four-game loss to No. 5
Arizona this past Saturday in Pauley Pavilion. Conference
tie-breaker rules all but eliminate UCLA from the league
championship and shift the Bruins’ focus to playing
consistently as they head into the postseason.
“It’s going to be tough going to Washington
State,” Banachowski said. “They’ve been playing
well. They just had a big win over Oregon State. It’s going
to be a tough road trip for us.”
Washington State is led by one of the top outside hitters on the
West Coast in senior LaToya Harris. The left-handed sophomore was
an All-Pac-10 Freshman first-teamer last season and is currently
fifth in the Pac-10 with a team leading 4.08 kills per game. A
potent weapon at the net, Harris also serves well, currently
posting the second best service ace average in the conference at
0.43 per game.
“We definitely know that we need to key on (LaToya)
Harris,” said senior middle blocker Elisabeth Bachman,
“and come to the net and double to prevent her from being a
factor. But they have a good all-around team and know that we need
to play up for this game.”
Thursday night might bring about deja vu for the Bruins. Bohler
Gym, a recently erected facility in Pullman, is the only gymnasium
in the Pac-10 built specifically for volleyball.
For UCLA and other Pac-10 opponents that have travelled to play
the Cougars, the feeling of playing there is similar to Southern
California.
“Bohler Gym is a lot like USC’s North Gym in terms
of providing a home court advantage,” Bachman said. “So
we will go in there being aware of that and doing the best we
can.”
For UCLA, working the kinks out of the offensive attack are
essential prior to its NCAA first round matchup. For two Bruins,
added incentive lies in their place in the conference and school
charts.
UCLA junior outside hitter Kristee Porter, who currently has
1,748 career kills, needs just 16 more to move into the top-ten
conference list.
The Tyler, Texas, native needs just 30 more to tie Linda Hanley
(1978-81) for third on the Bruins’ all-time list. She
currently has 551 kills on the season, 58 shy of her collegiate
best of 609 during her first season in Westwood.
Bachman, meanwhile, is closing in on UCLA’s career solo
blocks record. She sits in the two spot with 117 in her career, 20
shy of Marisa Hatchett (1989-92).
But for Bachman and the rest of the Bruins, the only numbers
that will matter Friday night will be the ones on the
scoreboard.
“We stumbled a bit last weekend,” said Bruin junior
setter Erika Selsor. “But it’s not an area of panic.
It’s not like our season’s spiraling downward.
We’re looking to get in a rhythm and establish some habits,
get in sync and get ready for the NCAA tournament.”
UCLA will try to take the heartbreaking loss last week to the
conference-leading Arizona Wildcats as a learning tool and keep its
eyes on the ultimate prize.
“We have tried to just brush (the Arizona game) off and
put it in the past,” Bachman said. “We are not going to
let that hinder our performance. We are just going to keep building
on the good things we have done recently.”