Monday, November 25, 1996
Volleyball digs up a couple of wins
UCLA women’s volleyball swept Oregon and Oregon State on the
road this weekend. The Bruins took on OSU Friday, and won in three
games, 15-7, 15-7, 15-4. The Beavers could not withstand the
offensive schemes of UCLA, and Bruin passing paid off as well.
UCLA took on the Ducks Saturday and beat them in four games,
16-14, 12-15, 17-15, 15-5. The Bruin’s conditioning, coupled with
offensive tweaks allowed an emotionally charged UCLA team (which
had just seen the end of the UCLA-USC football game) to pull out a
win.
The team had a .274 hitting average, improving vastly from their
performances against the Bay Area schools last weekend in Pauley.
Kelly Flannigan, in particular, aided the Bruins off the bench in
the third game of the Oregon match Saturday.
And for once the Bruins made it through a weekend relatively
healthy, although Kara Milling reported some soreness in her foot.
UCLA will face Pepperdine on Tuesday, and will close out their
regular season schedule Friday versus Long Beach State.
Women’s hoops start season on good note
The young Bruin women on the road were able to close out their
first opponent this season. Outplaying the University of San Diego
from start to finish, UCLA defeated the Toreros 73-61 in front of
1,276 at the USD Sports Center.
With no seniors on the roster, the Bruins started four freshmen
and one junior. Even with a young lineup, UCLA extended its streak
of victories over USD to six games and enabled the Bruins to get
the season off on the right track.
Tawana Grimes hit two three-pointers en route to 13 points.
Coming off the bench, junior Alisha Veasley scored six points,
had five rebounds and three steals in 16 minutes of play.
Freshman Maylana Martin finished with six rebounds and a
team-high 17 points, while Takiyah Jackson had seven points and
five rebounds.
With the Bruins winning their first road game of the season,
prospects are looking good for this year’s squad. Last season, the
team went 2-10 away from Westwood.
The Bruins’ next contest is Friday at 7:30 p.m. in Pauley
Pavilion against 13th-ranked Texas Tech.
Lone Bruin present at NCAA cross country
One runner is all that is left to represent the Bruin cross
country teams at the NCAA Championships.
Mebrahtom Keflezighi will run as an individual this morning in
Tucson, Ariz. Neither the UCLA men’s nor the women’s teams
qualified for the NCAA Championships, and only Keflezighi ran well
enough at the District VIII qualifying meet to be selected as an
individual.
"Meb has a real challenge ahead of him," men’s cross country
coach Bob Larsen said.
Keflezighi will run against three runners who are favored to
outrun him. The favorite is Arkansas’ Godfrey Siamuisye, the
defending individual champion and leading runner for last year’s
national championship team. After dominating his District VI race,
Siamuisye seems set to repeat last year’s feat.
Keflezighi’s fifth-place finish in the District VIII meet does
not worry Larsen, because he had instructed Keflezighi to save some
energy for the impending championship 1 1/2 weeks later. The coach
is also confident that the tough course in Tuscon will not bother
Keflezighi.