JESSE PORTER/Daily Bruin Senior Staff Kristee
Porter goes up for the kill against USC in a match earlier
this season. The Bruins lost to Washington State Thursday night.
WSU UCLA 15-3,5-15,15-11,16-14
By Christina Teller
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
The first half of their trip to Washington didn’t exactly
turn out how they expected.
The No. 7 UCLA women’s volleyball team (13-4 Pac-10, 19-7
overall) knew they had a tough weekend ahead of them since their
previous match-up with the Cougars lasted five games, but Thursday
night’s loss to Washington State (9-8, 18-8), 15-3, 5-15,
15-11, 16-14, was hard to take nonetheless.
While the result does not affect the Bruins’ conference
standings, it will likely hurt them in the seedings for the NCAA
tournament.
When asked how he felt after the four-game loss, UCLA head coach
Andy Banachowski answered simply, “I’m
disappointed.”
The Bruins weren’t their normal selves on Thursday night.
The two regular starters at outside hitter, Kristee Porter, who
leads the Pac-10 in kills, and Lauren Fendrick, who is first in the
conference in aces, didn’t start the match. Both missed
practice on Wednesday, Fendrick due to an injured toe. Freshman
Alyssa Rylander started in place of Fendrick and sophomore Lauren
Hogan started for Porter.
“They were nervous, but Hogan came up with some good digs
and they did alright,” Banachowski said. “But they
weren’t strong enough to lead to a win in the first
game.”
Porter and Fendrick entered the match during game one, but
despite their contributions UCLA fell 15-3.
Game two looked favorably on the Bruins, who won 15-5, thanks to
strong serving and a .375 hitting clip.
“We completely controlled that game,” Banachowski
said. “Our tough serve dismantled them. In that game, we
overwhelmed them.”
After dropping the third game 15-11, the Bruins sat behind the
Cougars in the fourth game with a 13-8 deficit. A 6-0 Bruin run
brought the score to 14-13 but UCLA eventually lost the game
16-14.
“We had a great comeback when down,” Banachowski
said.
At the end of the night, four Bruins posted double-figure kills.
Middle blocker Elisabeth “Wiz” Bachman put down 13
kills with a team-high hitting clip of .333. Porter notched 19,
junior outside hitter Ashley Bowles had 16, and Fendrick posted 12
of her own, despite playing injured. The Bruins also tallied 14
service errors.
Though Washington State walked away from the match with the win,
the teams’ numbers weren’t all that different. The
Cougars posted eight blocks, 76 digs and a hitting clip of .202.
Those stats that don’t really put the Bruins’ nine
blocks, 77 digs and .174 hitting percentage to shame. But
UCLA’s inconsistent play led to their defeat.
“It was up and down streak for us here, and we have to be
more consistent in our effort,” Banachowski said.
The Bruins look to bounce back from their second-straight tough
loss tonight at 7 p.m. against the Washington Huskies (2-14,
7-17).
“We have to rebound here and put together a total team
effort,” Banachowski said. Porter will start for the Bruins
in their match against Washington, and Fendrick’s status will
depend on her injured toe. Fendrick is not a stranger to playing
injured late in the season. Last season she played in all four
tournament matches with a broken toe.