After struggling to win an ugly five-game decision against lowly
Washington State (5-9, 2-3 Pac-10), the No. 8 Bruins know they were
lucky to escape Pullman, Wash., with a win without having played
their best volleyball. In fact, junior Heather Cullen could only
characterize the team’s play in morbid terms.
“We were playing like zombies out there,” she
said.
In an apparent daze, the Bruins’ lackluster play against a
weak opponent put them on the brink of their first loss to an
unranked opponent, losing the first two games 30-23 and 30-27.
“Washington State just came out and played more
aggressively than we did,” coach Andy Banachowski said.
“They had their band their crowd behind them all the way and
they responded to that.”
However, as the reality of the situation dawned on the team,
UCLA finally snapped out of its malaise and began playing the kind
of volleyball that has garnered them a top-10 ranking, winning the
next three games to pull out the victory.
“Right now we feel great to have the win but it was an
ugly win, and a struggle,” Banachowski said. “We just
ended up being better by the end of the night.”
The troubles began early, as the Bruins (11-2, 3-1) consistently
missed their defensive assignments. The coaching staff tried to
anticipate some of the Cougars’ offense and made adjustments
accordingly, but the team did not respond well to the new schemes.
Washington State hit .342 and .256 in the first two games, whereas
they did not hit higher than .125 after that.
“We weren’t playing our style of volleyball,”
junior Brynn Murphy said. “We were making way too many
errors. It wasn’t our normal game at all.”
In the second games’ waning moments, however, UCLA went
back to its normal routine, and began to assert itself. After
winning the third game 30-25, UCLA was once again dangerously close
to a loss. However, tied at 22, Murphy served as UCLA went on a
long run to take a five-point lead and control of the game, which
they won 30-27. In the fifth and deciding game, the Bruins ran off
a 10-5 lead and grabbed a stranglehold on the match, winning the
game 15-10.
Four Bruins notched double-figure kills. Murphy had a career
night with 21 kills on .311 hitting, 11 digs, two aces and four
assisted blocks. Cullen had 16 kills, senior Cira Wright had 14,
and freshman Becky Green had 12.
Both junior Brittany Ringel and Green returned from ankle
sprains after missing last weekend’s matches. Green was
clearly not at her best, registering 12 kills and 9 errors in 38
attempts. Ringel played in only one game.
The Bruins will face No. 13 Washington tonight, and the squad
knows it cannot fall behind again against such a quality
opponent.
“We need to play every game like it’s the national
championship,” Cullen said.