After the Bruins suffered through an exhausting and bitter loss
to Stanford a night earlier, Cal found itself in perfect position
to finally gain a victory over UCLA in women’s volleyball,
something it has never accomplished in school history.
They’ll have to wait until Nov. 14 ““ when the two
teams meet in Pauley Pavilion ““ until they can get another
shot.
UCLA’s perfect record against Cal continued on Friday, as
the No. 11 Bruins (14-4, 6-3 Pac-10) upset the No. 5 Golden Bears
(16-1, 7-1) with a 3-2 (30-22, 14-30, 24-30, 30-22, 15-12) victory
at Haas Pavilion in Berkeley. The victory extended UCLA’s
record against Cal to 43-0 all-time, salvaged a split on their most
important road swing, and handed the Bears their first loss of the
season.
“We’ve never lost to Cal and that’s a lot of
incentive right there,” freshman outside hitter Becky Green
said. “It was a must-win situation for us.”
The Bears were fresh and ready to rumble, while the Bruins
barely had their legs under them. Add to that the fact that Cal was
undefeated on the year, and it seemed as though coach Andy
Banachowski’s perfect record was in severe jeopardy. But
ultimately, it was UCLA’s defense that overcame all odds,
picking the Bruins up off the floor and leading the team to a
critical victory.
Cal’s offense, led by All-American Mia Jerkov, hit a
paltry -.024 in the first game, by far their worst total of the
season. But the Bears stormed back in games two and three, finding
their rhythm and hitting .556 and .388 in those two games,
respectively.
“We started out a little nervous, and looked a little
tired from last night,” Banachowski said. “We just did
not have anything going in that second game and after the break we
were still flat.”
At that point, Banachowski made a few substitutions that seemed
to turn the game back in UCLA’s favor, replacing senior
middle blocker Cira Wright for sophomore Nancy Barba and Green for
junior Brittany Ringel. Those two players brought in fresher legs
to make key contributions in the rally effort, and the Bruins
somehow managed to find a way to stifle the Bears, holding them to
an anemic .094 hitting in the fourth.
In the fifth and final game, Green served two consecutive aces
to give UCLA a three point advantage at 13-10. Junior middle
blocker Brynn Murphy, who finished the night one kill shy of her
career high with 21, notched the last kill of the night as the
block attempt by Cal went wide, and the Bruins completed an
improbable upset.
“We were physically and emotionally drained after
(Friday’s) loss,” Banachowski said. “The team
just refused to lose. The players on the bench came in and breathed
some new life into us. It’s a huge win for our
confidence.”
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Five game matches seem to be the norm for the Bruins, as they
have not played in anything else on the road in the Pac-10. UCLA
also had five game matches at Washington, Washington State and
Stanford, winning both against the Washington schools before
dropping their match against the Cardinal.
“We’re sick of playing it, to be honest,”
Green said. “We need to practice harder so we don’t get
tired and can quit playing these five game matches.”