UCLA d. Cal 31-29, 30-12, 30-21 Â
By Andrew Borders
Daily Bruin Reporter
What was a heartbreaking loss to No. 4 Stanford Thursday night
continued into the first game on Friday night against Cal for the
No. 5 UCLA women’s volleyball team (10-3, 5-2 Pac-10).
A loss to Cal (5-9, 1-7) would have been upsetting. Very
upsetting.
The Bruins started play slowly, losing points on their serve,
and allowing Cal to pose a real threat to their home court
advantage.
“We made eight service errors in the first game, and it
killed any kind of momentum we were trying to get going. I
don’t think we made that many errors the rest of the
night,” said UCLA head coach Andy Banachowski.
Despite the eight service errors in the first set, the Bruins
recorded only five more the rest of the evening.
The Bruins’ recovery from game one helped them to play
their superior brand of volleyball the rest of the way to defeat
the Golden Bears 31-29, 30-12, 30-21 at Pauley Pavilion.
UCLA won game one, hitting a less-than stellar .255 to
Cal’s .182. Senior outside hitters Ashley Bowles and Kristee
Porter hit .286 and .308, respectively, through the first game.
Junior opposite hitter Lauren Fendrick hit .250 in the first game.
Fortunately for the Bruins, all numbers went in the right direction
from then on.
After game one, Banachowski motivated his team, by saying,
“You can’t do any worse, so go out there and
play.”
Cal sunk back to mediocrity in games two and three, losing 12-30
and 21-30 and hitting .119 to the Bruins .380 for the match. Porter
and Bowles improved to hit .500 each, and Fendrick upped her totals
to a .481 percentage.
Cal head coach Rich Feller lamented the Bears’ missed
opportunities.
“I think we’re very disappointed. The Bruins were
ripe for an upset, and we didn’t take advantage of
that,” he said.
As the Bruins have done in previous matches this year, they
crossed and approached school and conference milestones. Recently,
Senior setter Erika Selsor became the most proficient setter in
Pac-10 history, passing former Bruin Holly McPeak (’90).