DANIEL WONG/Daily Bruin Senior Staff Bruin’s senior
Adhley Bowles goes for the kill over the
outstretched hand of a hawaii defender during UCLA’s sweep of
Hawaii.
By Andrew Borders
Daily Bruin Reporter
Poor Bruins, they never had a chance.
Top-ranked Long Beach State proved overwhelming for the No.
14
UCLA women’s volleyball team, sweeping it 30-25, 30-28,
30-21.
No matter how hard Kristee Porter pummeled the volleyball
onto
the LBSU side, it seemed there was always a 49er there to record
a dig.
The senior outside hitter was held to a .137 hitting
percentage
by a 49er team that outdug UCLA 62-28. As a team, the Bruins
(21-9) hit
.165 to LBSU’s .348.
All told, LBSU showed how it defeated teams like No. 2 Nebraska
and No. 3 Stanford on its way to a 32-0 record. It exemplified the
play
of a No. 1 team. It took the last gasps of a team led by the
powerful
Porter and determined senior setter Erika Selsor and proved
itself
deserving of a trip to the Final Four in San Diego.
"I think their performance is worthy of their ranking," UCLA
head coach Andy Banachowski said. "They were the better team
tonight."
UCLA got out to a 5-0 lead in game one before the 49ers tied
the
game at eight. The Bruins never trailed by more than three until
the
final two points of the game.
DANIEL WONG/Daily Bruin Senior Staff Bruin freshman
Chrissie Zartman eyes a dig during defeat to
Long Beach State in the quarter finals of the NCAA
tournament.
"We got off to a good start and started doing some of the things
we wanted to do, but then just lost momentum," Banachowski said.
"We just couldn’t quite hang with them throughout the evening."
In the second game, the Bruins had two early one-point leads but
trailed the rest of the way. UCLA narrowed the match to 28-27, but
LBSU head coach Brian Gimmillaro called timeout for a successful
freeze of the Bruin run.
But the Bruins didn’t back down. UCLA surged early in game
three, leading by three at 9-6 before Long Beach tied the game at
nine.
Following a brief 10-9 UCLA lead, the Bruins kept it close,
trailing by only three most of the way, until LBSU closed out the
match with a 10-4 run.
UCLA junior middle blocker Angela Eckmier summed up the
Bruins’shortcomings.
"They had better transititon than we did in being able to
capitalize on the dig and make it into the hit," she said.
Selsor added: "I don’t think we played our best match tonight
but they definitely came to play and they went after it all night
long. We held with them for a while but it just wasn’t supposed to
be for us. I think (LBSU) played better than what we thought they
would. I give them a lot of credit."
49er senior outside hitter Cheryl Weaver gave the Bruins credit
while acknowledging her own team’s prowess.
"UCLA came in here wanting to beat us bad and they gave us great
competition. We just played really well tonight and I think we can
continue to get better," she said.
If Weaver’s words are correct, the Arizona Wildcats have a tall
order awaiting them in the national semifinal on Thursday.