After Thursday’s relatively easy win against Oregon, the
UCLA women’s volleyball team was hoping for a similar match
Friday night against Oregon State, a team the Bruins have dominated
in the past.
The Beavers did not go along with the Bruins’ plans,
however, as they extended UCLA to five games before the Bruins
pulled out a 15-7 victory in the fifth game to seal the match.
“It’s just a matter of finding a way to win, and it
was really gratifying tonight,” coach Andy Banachowski
said.
In the beginning, it didn’t look like the Bruins were
going to get to the fifth game. They were without seniors Krystal
McFarland and Brittany Ringel to start the match, and seemed to be
flustered by the Beavers’ defense, losing the first game
23-30.
However, the No. 12 Bruins (13-5, 6-3 Pac-10) won three of the
next four games, 30-25, 27-30, 30-24, and 15-7, to defeat Oregon
State (8-10, 2-7) and remain in third place in the Pac-10.
“We were a little out of sync, not having Krystal and
Brittany to start with.” Banachowski said.
“Oregon State runs a fast offense and it took us some time
to adjust defensively.”
McFarland, who suffered an ankle injury against Oregon, was
replaced by Tammy Jackson at setter. Jackson did an admirable job,
recording 66 assists in her first career start.
“I do it every day in practice, so it wasn’t weird
to start,” Jackson said. “I knew I had a job to do and
I went in and did it.”
As well as Jackson filled in, the player who came up with the
most important plays in the end was Becky Green. Tied 19-19 in the
fourth game, Green pulled off seven consecutive points on her serve
to give UCLA the momentum and control of the game.
She pulled off the same feat in the fifth game, recording seven
consecutive points on her serve as UCLA jumped out to a 7-0 lead,
from which they would never look back.
The other Bruin regulars also had impressive games. Brynn Murphy
recorded 21 kills in the match, registering an impressive .315
hitting percentage. It was a big change from her match against USC
last week, when she registered only seven kills and was used mostly
as a decoy.
“At first, it was kind of a quiet performance,”
Banachowski said. “Then we started really feeding her the
ball continuously.”
“I don’t think she’s taken 54 swings in a long
time.”