Deck the courts with spikes and volleys
Volleyball receives
favorable draw for championship run
By Eric Branch
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
Christmas came early for the UCLA women’s volleyball team Sunday
with the announcement of the NCAA Women’s Volleyball Championship
draw. The selection committee played the role of Santa Claus for
the Bruins, gift wrapping a top-seed and a relatively easy path to
the Final Four in Austin, Texas.
No. 3 UCLA (28-3 overall), the top-seed in the South, is the
lone Pacific-10 representative not in the West. Long regarded as
the best conference in volleyball, it is doubtful the Bruins will
be pining for their six other Pac-10 cohorts.
"We are more than pleased with our draw and the fact that we got
in the South," UCLA coach Andy Banachowski said. "It will be a
chance to get away from the teams we have played all year and move
on to new challenges."
New and perhaps lesser challenges. The Bruins, by virtue of
being in the South, will avoid playing No. 2 Stanford, the top-seed
in the West, until a possible finals matchup. Similarly, No. 7 Long
Beach State, the defending champion, would only be a final game
foe.
* * *
Despite the Bruins’ top-seed, the road to Austin is not without
its possible pitfalls. Should UCLA advance to the regionals, they
could face No.14 Florida on their home court. Although the Bruins
are the top-seed in the region, the Gators, a Final Four
participant last season, would host the South regionals because of
the NCAA Committee’s policy which keeps the regional sites within
the region.
"Going to Florida will be a tough road trip for us," Banachowski
said. "They will be tough playing at home, that will not be an easy
match."
Looking ahead in the Bruins’ bracket, top-ranked but
lightly-tested Nebraska could be a quarterfinal opponent. The
unbeaten Huskers have spent much of their season beating up on the
Big-Eight, not a conference known as a volleyball factory.
"I don’t really know who Nebraska has faced," Banachowski said.
"But I can’t imagine they would have a Pac-10 schedule or even a
Big-10 schedule."
* * *
After a first-round bye, UCLA will face the winner of
Wednesday’s George Mason-Georgia Tech match. The second-round
contest will be played in Pauley Pavilion at 7 p.m., Saturday, Dec.
3.
* * *
Bits and pieces:
* UCLA has played 21 matches against teams mentioned in the AVCA
national rankings at match time.
* The Bruins are the only team to compete in every national
volleyball championship, dating back to 1970.
* Senior outside hitter Annett Buckner’s 569 kills on the season
place her 58 behind Patty Orozco’s 1983 single season mark of
627.