W. VOLLEYBALL Thursday, 7 p.m. v. Cal Pauley
Pavilion
Everything about the way the UCLA women’s volleyball team
has started off the 2006 season indicates that the Bruins have
turned the corner to becoming a truly elite team.
The team has an opportunity to display its prominence against
California and Stanford ““ teams it has struggled against
recently ““ beginning tonight.
The No. 3 Bruins (19-0, 6-0 Pac-10) will host the No. 7 Bears
(14-2, 3-2) tonight at 7 p.m. and will take on the No. 6 Cardinal
(13-2, 4-1) on Friday at 7 p.m. in Pauley Pavilion, in what will be
two showdown matches between three talented teams.
“This is going to be a huge weekend,” sophomore
setter Nellie Spicer said. “We all know it; they know it
I’m sure. We have to come ready to play both
nights.”
UCLA split the season series with Cal last season, getting swept
3-0 on the road before exacting revenge with a 3-1 victory at home
toward the end of the season.
The Bruins’ loss to the Bears was their first-ever loss to
Cal in the history of the program. UCLA is 47-1 against the Bears
since the two teams first met in 1980.
But the Cal volleyball team has improved drastically over the
past few years and may currently be at its all-time peak. The Bears
return their top two offensive players from last year’s team
in junior outside hitter Angie Pressey and sophomore outside hitter
Morgan Beck.
In addition to Pressey, Beck and junior middle hitter Ellen
Orchard, the Bears have added another offensive force for 2006.
That force is freshman Hana Cutura, a 6-3 hitter who hails from
Croatia. Cutura has made an immediate impact on the Bears, as she
is second on the team in kills with 179.
“(Cal has) matured as a team, just as we have,” UCLA
coach Andy Banachowski said. “They’re much improved,
we’re just going to have to step up to the
challenge.”
Out of Cal’s two losses this year, one was to No. 5
Washington and the other was a sweep by the Cardinal last Friday at
Stanford. The Cardinal did to the Bears what it has been doing to
opponents all season long ““ dominated them. Each of
Stanford’s 13 victories this year has been a sweep. And
Stanford has not just been sweeping opponents, it has been
dominating each game.
In a showdown earlier this season with No. 11 Hawai’i, the
Cardinal limited Hawai’i to just 10 points in the first game.
And Cal did not manage to score more than 22 points in a game
against Stanford.
“They’re one of the top teams in the country,”
Banachowski said. “They have the best pair of outside hitters
““ experience-wise and in everything ““ in (senior
Kristin) Richards and (senior Cynthia) Barboza. Whenever those two
are on, they’re pretty good.
“To get a win against Stanford, it would certainly
validate what we’re doing this year,” Banachowski
said.
Not only would a win against the Cardinal solidify the
Bruins’ position among the elite teams in the nation, it
would also fill a void for the seniors on the team.
UCLA is 0-10 against Stanford in the last 10 matches between the
two teams, and the Bruins have not beaten the Cardinal since 2000.
The seniors on this UCLA team were sophomores in high school
then.
“To come out with two wins is definitely a goal for us
““ especially on Friday versus Stanford,” senior
opposite Colby Lyman said. “We’re just trying to work
on Cal now. It’ll help a lot to have two wins, but we just
have to take it one game at a time and hope for the
best.”