MICHAEL MANTEL Sophomore defensive specialist
Stacey Lee digs the ball in the Bruins’ win over
Washington State.
By Andrew Borders
Daily Bruin Reporter
After a season of gut punches by USC, Stanford, Arizona and
every other team that the UCLA women’s volleyball team has
faced with a higher ranking this year, the No. 12 Bruins hope to do
what they have been doing all season, and beat up on the little
guys.
The Bruins have stayed perfect against their lesser conference
opponents so far this year. Conversely, the Bruins have fallen both
times to USC and Stanford, and split with Arizona. UCLA (14-7, 9-5
Pac-10) looks to complete the season by sweeping the Oregon schools
in an unusual stretch of four conference matches in the space of
six days.
Thursday and Friday at Pauley Pavilion, both at 7 p.m., the
Bruins will take on Oregon (0-14, 9-17) and Oregon State (9-5,
16-7), respectively. The Beavers are not ranked, but were mentioned
on seven of the 65 AVCA poll ballots. Next Monday and Tuesday, UCLA
will travel to Oregon State and Oregon, respectively, to conclude
the regular season.
The unorthodox scheduling was necessary when the original Sept.
13 and 14 contests had to be postponed because of the terrorist
attacks on Sept. 11.
UCLA has never lost to the Ducks at Pauley, and have fallen only
once to Oregon in Eugene in 1987. Against Oregon State, however, an
unbeaten streak was broken last year as the Beavers defeated UCLA
for the first time anywhere at Pauley Pavilion.
The Bruins insist that revenge is not on their minds, as it was
on the trip to Pullman, Wash., earlier this season to avenge last
year’s road loss to Washington State. Rather, UCLA is looking
for wins to attain a more favorable position in the NCAA Tournament
that starts at the end of ninth week.
“I forgot about that,” UCLA junior outside hitter
Lauren Fendrick said of the 2000 defeat. “We want to make a
really strong showing before the NCAAs. We’re expecting wins
this weekend.”
Tempering Fendrick’s optimism, UCLA head coach Andy
Banachowski cautioned that Oregon State is not the slouch team it
has been in years past.
“I think we remember how well Oregon State played us last
year in both matches,” he said.
In fact, Oregon State is tied for fourth in the conference with
UCLA, and has two more non-conference wins than the Bruins.
Junior middle blocker Angela Eckmier understands the importance
of finishing the season with four more wins. “We’re
focusing on our intensity level being the same for these teams just
as if it were ‘SC or Stanford,” she said. “We
can’t lose anymore. We really need to take this weekend very
seriously.”