BRIDGET O’BRIEN/Daily Bruin Senior Staff
Elisabeth Bachman gives a high-five before a game
vs. Oregon State last year. NCAA Elite Eight
Wisconsin d. UCLA 15-7, 5-15, 16-14, 14-16, 15-12
By Christina Teller
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
It came down to three points. The Bruins lost the seesaw battle
to Wisconsin in the Elite Eight of the NCAA Volleyball
Championships 15-7, 5-15, 16-14, 14-16, 15-12 in front of 4,949
fans at Wisconsin’s Field House Saturday Dec. 9.
“We knew it was going to be a long match, we knew nobody
was going to go in and win,” senior middle blocker Elisabeth
Bachman said.
The match was tight the whole two hours and 44 minutes. Though
the Bruins held an edge in both kills and attack percentage, the
advantage was slight at 100-95 and .231-.219, respectively.
The Badgers dominated the first game, jumping to an 8-2 lead.
The Bruins dropped that game 15-7, but retaliated in the subsequent
game, which UCLA pulled out 15-5 behind their .525 hitting
clip.
“We went down in the beginning and came back after we got
adjusted to everything,” Bachman said. “But in the
second game, it was a role reversal, the momentum
changed.”
From that point on, neither team dominated. They remained
neck-and-neck, with each rarely pulling more than a few points
ahead.
Games three and four featured consistently tough play on both
sides. The Badgers took game three 16-14, while the Bruins answered
with a 16-14 victory in game four behind junior Kristee
Porter’s 13 kills, despite 15 from Wisconsin’s Sherisa
Livingston.
The close play carried into the rally-scored game five. Neither
team had more than a one or two-point lead for long. With the score
tied at 12, Badger Erin Byrd hammered two kills to bring the score
to 14-12, and the Badgers closed out the match 15-12 with a block
by Byrd and Livingston.
“This is just a gutsy performance by a team that has
worked so hard all year,” Wisconsin head coach Pete Waite
said. “It’s just a real tribute to this team and how
much they wanted it and what they were willing to do to get it.
I’m just so proud of this team.”
Porter, who finished with 35 kills and 19 digs, and Bachman,
with 16 kills, two solo blocks and eight block assists, were both
named to the Mideast Regional All-Tournament Team. Livingston, who
had 31 kills against the Bruins, was MVP of the Mideast Regional
Tournament.
Wisconsin went on to defeat USC in the Final Four 15-10, 15-9,
15-9 but fell to undefeated Nebraska 15-9, 9-15, 7-15, 15-2, 15-9,
despite a 2-1 game lead in the Championship game.
The Bruins advanced to the Elite Eight after defeating Pacific
15-10, 10-15, 15-11, 15-11 in the third round of tournament play,
also in Madison, Wis.
Game one featured a big lead by the Bruins, as much as 12-2, but
the Tigers fought back and lost at 15-10. That was the last
dominant lead of the match, as the teams battled closely through
the next three games.
“It was an exciting, tactical match,” Banachowski
said in a statement. “Pacific is a well-coached and talented
team. We turned the match around in game three with a great
blocking run. That is what switched the momentum.”
The match showcased top performances by Porter and juniors
outside hitter Ashley Bowles and setter Erika Selsor. Porter
notched a match-high 22 kills, which brought her season tally to
706 kills, surpassing the previous record of 703 set in 1986.
Bowles set both a season and career-high with her 28 digs, while
Selsor dished 75 assists, bringing her career tally of 70-plus
assists matches to 13.