After an inspired victory Saturday night against California, the
UCLA women’s volleyball team was rewarded Sunday with the
16th overall seed in the 64-team NCAA Tournament.
UCLA’s 3-1 (30-18, 30-27, 28-30, 30-28) victory over the
No. 12 Bears on Saturday night gave the two teams identical records
(18-10, 10-8 Pac-10).
But it was UCLA and not Cal that was rewarded with a top-16 seed
and home-court advantage in the first two postseason rounds.
“It’s great for us to be here at home and have our
fans’ support,” UCLA coach Andy Banachowski said.
“We’ve shown lately that we can play well here at
home.”
As the month of November began, the Bruins weren’t even
sure they’d be playing in the tournament, much less earn one
of the top-16 seeds.
The Bruins were 11-8 and just 4-6 in the Pac-10 heading up north
to face the Oregon schools, and a slip-up might have been the
beginning of the end for UCLA.
But rather than fall apart, the Bruins came together, beat the
Oregon schools, and went on a thrilling six-match winning streak
highlighted by their victory over what was a then-undefeated No. 2
Washington Husky team to give Banachowski his 1,000th career
win.
“You look back (to the beginning of the month) now and
say, “˜What happened?'” Banachowski said.
“We had that great week where we beat Pepperdine, Washington
State and then Washington; that really defined the season for us
and put a stamp on us as a team.”
UCLA’s efforts this weekend against Stanford and
California continued to showcase the team’s steady
improvement.
Even in a 3-1 (24-30, 30-28, 30-23, 30-28) loss to the No. 6
Cardinal on Friday, (25-5, 14-4), the Bruins had an opportunity to
win each game.
That’s a lot more than could be said for their September
loss to Stanford, when UCLA was swept. The Bruins dominated the
first game of the match and, had it not been for their 34 attack
errors, might have won.
UCLA was able to bounce back on Saturday with a victory against
Cal, a team the Bruins were also swept by in their September trip
to the Bay Area. The Bruins got a 20-kill performance out of
sophomore outside hitter Rachell Johnson and got 10 kills and a
.286 attack percentage performance out of the team’s lone
senior, Nancy Barba, on Senior Night.
“Nancy and (junior defensive specialist Laura Kroneberger)
were crying before the game and getting me all emotional,”
Johnson said.
“I said, “˜Don’t look at me; I don’t want
to look at you.’ We were all chanting (Nancy’s) name
after the game because we really wanted to do it for
her.”
For Barba, her last regular-season match could not have ended
with a better result.
“Excitement, but tears,” Barba said of her reaction
to the victory. “I’m going to miss them a
lot.”
While the Bruins’ improved play in November was a sure
confidence boost, Banachowski doesn’t want his team to get
too excited just yet.
UCLA will open up its postseason Friday against Kansas and faces
a tough potential second-round match-up against Long Beach State or
the University of San Diego, who played the Bruins close in a match
at the beginning of the season.
If the Bruins make it through the first two rounds, they will
travel to Omaha, Neb., and likely face No. 1 overall seed Nebraska
on its home court in the third round.
“I told the team after the match on Saturday night that we
have to go deep into this tournament because we still have so much
room to improve,” Banachowski said.
“As long as we keep playing, we keep getting better and
that’s a nice thing that has occurred with this team, this
season” the Bruin coach said.
With reports from Allison Ho, Bruin Sports
contributor.