For a playoff team that is looking for a good seeding in the
NCAA tournament, No. 8 UCLA doesn’t look very enticing.
The Bruins fell behind early and ultimately succumbed to No. 7
Stanford, which swept the season series with a 30-17, 30-27, 25-30,
30-18 win Thursday night at Pauley Pavilion.
With only three matches left in the season to seduce the
selection committee, the Stanford loss represents a huge
setback.
“Tonight we stepped backwards,” UCLA coach Andy
Banachowski said. “We’re not in postseason shape.
“We’ve been able to take little steps, but until we
(beat a highly-ranked opponent), I don’t think we’ll be
respected.”
It may be hard for UCLA (20-6, 11-5 Pac-10) to earn any respect
after the way it came out in Game 1, committing two foot faults and
hitting -.024.
The worst offender was starting junior outside hitter Brittany
Ringel, who had one kill on five errors (-.444) and ended up on the
bench for most of the night.
“We weren’t ready to play,” Banachowski said.
“They jumped all over us.”
Freshman Becky Green came off the bench to register 11 kills,
but also had nine hitting errors (.051).
“We let them make runs, and they just dominated out
there,” Green said.
UCLA ended up being out-hit .284-.131 on the night, which was
the likely result of Stanford having 21 blocks in four games.
Cardinal middle blocker Jennifer Harvey led with eight block
assists and a solo to go along with her 10 kills.
“They were onto us,” Banachowski said.
“We’re going to see teams like that (in the
playoffs),” junior outside hitter Heather Cullen said.
“We have to adjust. We have to be smarter.”
Cullen was another Bruin who struggled, notching 10 kills on a
.074 hitting percentage.
Her right knee flared up before the match because of a loose
screw that was there from a surgery performed on her in high
school. Cullen is expected to have another surgery on the knee to
remove the screw at the end of the postseason.
Junior middle blocker Brynn Murphy did have a team-high 17
kills, and freshman outside hitter Colby Lyman added a career-high
of 15 kills.
Junior libero Chrissie Zartman led all players with 22 digs,
leading UCLA to a 74-73 digging edge.
But the night belonged to Stanford outside hitter Ogonna
Nnamani.
With Game 2 tied at 27, Nnamani came up with three consecutive
kills. She ended up leading the Cardinal with a match-high 26
kills.
UCLA came back and won Game 3 with a slew of its starters on the
bench. Green and outside hitters Haley Jorgensborg and Katie Carter
played well.
For a moment, the Bruins had masked their inadequacies against
Stanford (19-5, 12-3) and actually began to look somewhat
alive.
Smile and celebrate on every point they did.
But Stanford shot out to a 16-5 lead, and led at one point by as
many as 12 points in Game 4.
UCLA returns to Pauley tonight to play Cal.