DANIEL WONG/Daily Bruin Senior Staff Senior outside
hitter, Ashley Bowles goes in for the dig in a
match against Hawaii last season.
By Diamond Leung
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
To say the least, it was a wild ride for the UCLA women’s
volleyball team this year.
The Bruins came into the season ranked No. 7 in the nation. The
Great Triumvirate ““ seniors Ashley Bowles, Kristee Porter and
Erika Selsor ““ had one last year together to make a run at a
national championship. Coming into the season, the three had never
missed a match in their careers. Senior leadership combined with a
strong freshman class gave the Bruins hopes to reach the Final
Four.
UCLA tore through its preseason schedule, winning its first five
matches. Head coach Andy Banachowski notched his 900th career
victory Sept. 1 against Kansas State. He is the first collegiate
women’s volleyball coach to ever reach the milestone.
The Bruins were then swept by defending national champion
Nebraska and USC.
After that, they swept and upset a powerful Arizona team.
“It feels real good to get this win,” Banachowski
said after the Arizona victory. “I think that if we
hadn’t been able to come out and play respectable tonight, we
would have felt like maybe we don’t belong in that top group.
I think we do, and I think we’re capable of it.”
UCLA won its next three matches, defeating Arizona State and
sweeping the Washington schools. On Oct. 4 against Washington,
Porter set the Pac-10 and UCLA records for career kills. Stanford
then came to town with eventual Player of the Year Logan Tom, and
UCLA took the first two games from the Cardinal. The Bruins were on
a roll.
Then it fell apart.
Stanford took the next three games to win the match ““ a
turning point in the season. A week later, shortly before the
second match against USC, Porter was declared ineligible for an
NCAA “extra benefits” violation. The Bruins fought on,
taking the first two games against the Trojans, but again suffered
a devastating five-game loss.
The Bruins went 8-5 for the next month without Porter. Bowles
became a first option, and the freshmen stepped into more important
roles, but it was clear that the team was not a title contender
with Porter unavailable. There was no timetable for her return.
“It was really hard to watch the team compete ““ a
team I’ve been a part of for years and years,” Porter
said. “To not be able to play and for the team to struggle,
it was heartbreaking.”
Porter was given a reprieve. The day after the regular season
ended, she was reinstated. The selection committee took notice and
seeded the Bruins eighth in the NCAA Tournament.
The Bruins went to Pennsylvania, and with Porter they swept both
Penn and Penn State to reach the Sweet 16. After a 3-1 win over
Hawaii, UCLA was only one win away from the Final Four.
But the 49ers ““ top-ranked in the nation for most of the
year ““ were too tough. The Bruins fell quietly in three
games.
“It has to end sometime,” Selsor said after the
tournament defeat. “You can’t win them all. I had a
good four years here, so I’m going to have to be happy with
that.”
With the loss of Bowles, Porter and Selsor, Banachowski will
have to rely on a talented freshman class led by defensive
specialist Chrissie Zartman to step up for next year.
The ride just got started for the freshmen. For the seniors,
it’s over.