Imagine having a top-10 team every year, but there’s one
team that you just can’t beat.
It gets worse. That team, which has been one of the most
successful in the country over the last few years, is your
cross-town rival.
That is exactly the situation the UCLA women’s volleyball
team is in. Since 2000, the Bruins have lost to USC all seven times
they have played them despite fielding some very good teams. Just
not as good as USC, which has won back-to-back NCAA Championships
and went undefeated in 2003.
All of this means the Bruins will want to win more than usual
when they play the hated Trojans at USC on Friday night.
“It would be a huge win for us,” UCLA coach Andy
Banachowski said. “USC is always a big match. I don’t
know how much more important we can make it.”
For the seniors on this year’s Bruin team, Friday’s
match gives them another chance to finally beat USC.
“The seniors haven’t been able to beat (USC),”
senior Heather Cullen said. “Now we have another chance.
It’s been frustrating for us.”
Though the Bruins wouldn’t say it, USC looks more
vulnerable this year. Granted, the Trojans are still ranked No. 6
in the country ““ but they’ve lost three times this
season already.
Three.
That might not seem like a lot, but remember ““ USC had
only lost one match in its previous two seasons (and that was to
then-No. 2 Stanford).
UCLA enters Friday’s match with a No. 10 national ranking
and an 11-4 record ““ very similar to USC’s 9-3 record.
But big deal. Numbers have never meant anything to UCLA’s
squad.
Despite USC’s dominance over UCLA the last few years and a
better current ranking, some easy boolean logic shows UCLA can beat
USC this year. (For those of you who don’t know what boolean
logic is, consider yourselves lucky.)
UCLA just last week beat No. 13 California 3-0. During the same
weekend, Cal beat USC ““ at the Lyon Center (USC’s home
court). Logic says the Bruins will be victorious.
Then again ““ the opposite logic applies with Stanford (USC
beat Stanford who beat UCLA).
But logic aside, this team needs a win badly against USC ““
not just for this year’s team ““ but for the future of
the program.
They don’t necessarily need to win on Friday, but it is
crucial that they pick up at least one win in the season
series.
The future of the program could be crushed with another season
sweep. Over the last few years, UCLA has started to lose big-time
recruits to USC and Stanford, and not surprisingly, those two teams
have consistently been among the top two teams in the country.
It’s not like UCLA is in terrible shape now ““
they’re still No. 10 in the country.
Getting the team back to a championship level is very doable,
but they need to be able to get past USC and Stanford.
Playing at the Lyon Center is always tough ““ especially
since USC is making an effort to add 500 seats for tomorrow
night’s game, shooting for the biggest crowd in the small
arena’s history.
“It’s a small arena, but you know it’s going
to be filled with loud and rowdy fans anytime you play USC,”
Cullen said.
And one thing Cullen refuses to think about is the possibility
of playing at UCLA for four years without beating USC.
“I don’t think about that,” she said. “I
can’t have any negativity.”
If the team plays its best on Friday, she won’t have any
reason to be negative anymore.
The streak will end this year.
Quiñonez doesn’t think that “other”
team’s streak against USC will end anytime soon though.
E-mail him at gquinonez@media.ucla.edu.