In danger of falling out of the Pac-10 race and jeopardizing its
postseason chances, the UCLA women’s volleyball team found a
familiar foe that has always seemed to help them when it needed it
the most.
On Friday, the Bruins defeated California in five games, 22-30,
30-24, 32-30, 24-30, 15-10 at Haas Pavilion, making the Bruins 47-0
all-time against the Golden Bears.
It was the Bruins’ first win in their last three five-game
matches and served as a big energy boost coming off Thursday
night’s heartbreaking five-game loss to Stanford.
“Knowing we can win these types of close matches is very
encouraging,” UCLA coach Andy Banachowski said. “It
definitely keeps some hope alive for a good finish in the
Pac-10.”
Had the Bruins (15-8, 8-5 Pac-10) lost to the Bears (12-9, 7-5),
UCLA would have fallen to fifth place in the Pac-10 with no
legitimate chance of receiving a top playoff seed.
But with the Cal victory the Bruins go into next week’s
match against No. 4 USC with a chance to gain even more of the
momentum they had lost during the middle of the season.
The major reason for the Bruins’ success on Friday was the
performance of their key players.
Both junior Nancy Barba and sophomore Becky Green have taken
advantage of their increased role in the Bruins’ offense in
the last two weeks and were instrumental to UCLA’s victory
over Cal.
Barba led the Bruins on Friday with 15 kills and a .290 hitting
percentage, while Green contributed with 14 kills.
“I have been really happy with their play,”
Banachowski said. “I think both Becky and Nancy can help us
contribute for the rest of their season.”
Former starter Brittany Ringel also found her way back into the
starting lineup and finished with nine kills in the match.
It was Ringel’s first start since being benched Oct. 26th
against Pepperdine, but it was not as successful as Ringel may have
liked. She was replaced by Katie Carter to begin the second game
after the Bruins came out flat in the first game.
“The outside hitter is still a position that we
haven’t had as much success as we would like to,”
Banachowski said. “And we will continue to make changes until
we can find someone that we feel comfortable with.”
While the Bruins look to solidify their outside hitter position,
they will have plenty of things to look forward to when they face
the Trojans on Friday.
The Trojans knocked the Bruins out of the NCAA tournament last
season, are currently two games in front of them in the Pac-10
race, and have already defeated them this season.
It is a rivalry match in which the Bruins will look to erase the
past. Over the weekend, they were just glad Cal couldn’t do
the same.