If the UCLA women’s volleyball team’s dominating win
against Long Beach State was a surprise, then a victory over the
Pepperdine Waves in the second round of the NCAA tournament might
have left some people wondering if that was a pig that just landed
at LAX.
Unfortunately for the Bruins, however, the runways are safe for
now.
Despite one of their best efforts of the season, UCLA came up
empty toward the end of Friday’s match, and the Waves won a
hotly contested battle in four games. Even Pepperdine head coach
Nina Matthies was impressed by the way UCLA played.
“I told my team that was just a little bit more than we
wanted,” she said. “It could have gone either way. This
year we were just the better team.”
Early in the first game it seemed the Waves would have little
trouble dispatching the upstart Bruins. UCLA’s main strength,
their defense, appeared totally unable to stop Lyndsey Hache and
Katie Wilkins, the big outside hitters for Pepperdine, as the Waves
hit .333 in the first game.
After a long rally, a Pepperdine kill pushed the lead to 19-12
and then to 21-13. But instead of simply rolling over, as the
Bruins had when the two teams played in Pauley Pavilion during the
regular season, UCLA managed to stage an intense rally.
A kill by Brynn Murphy cut the score to 24-21 and prompted a
Pepperdine timeout. UCLA got even closer, as another tremendous
kill by Murphy narrowed the gap to 25-23. However, two costly
errors by Brittany Ringel and Lauren Fendrick stymied the comeback
effort, and the Waves went on to win 30-26.
Still, the momentum gathered in that rally carried over to the
second game. The offense passed the ball crisply and set up easy
kill opportunities.
More importantly, the defense turned things around. Chrissie
Zartman began asserting herself and made a major impact
defensively, helping to limit the Waves to .173 hitting
percentage.
A booming kill by Fendrick gave the Bruins a 13-8 lead, and the
Waves were never able to get any closer than four points throughout
the rest of the game. Leading 26-21, a service error by Pepperdine
ended any chance of a rally, and the Bruins cruised to a 30-23
victory.
In the critical third game, however, Pepperdine showed the form
that earned them a No. 7 national ranking.
After a kill by Lauren Fendrick cut Pepperdine’s lead to
11-9, the Waves regained their offensive flow and jumped out to a
20-14 lead. Pepperdine ended the third with a 30-26 win.
The fourth game was nothing short of a slugfest. Early on, the
Waves and Bruins essentially traded points and errors. The Bruins
eventually got the upper hand and took a 19-17 lead.
With their momentum, UCLA quieted the large Pepperdine crowd and
caused a stir among the Bruin fans in attendance. The Waves took a
much-needed timeout, and it appeared the match would go to a
tie-breaking fifth game.
However, the Bruins blinked during the crucial stretch period.
Two errors by freshman Nancy Barba and a Pepperdine kill gave the
lead back to the Waves, and at that point the Bruins began to
self-destruct. Down 23-20, all six UCLA players watched as a soft,
arcing serve from Pepperdine dropped in untouched for an ace.
The two point lead turned into a four point deficit, and the
Bruins were unable to muster another comeback.
“It came down to execution and communication errors in
that fourth game,” head coach Andy Banachowski said.
“We battled them very well and they battled back. They came
through when they needed to.”
In the final game of her collegiate career, Fendrick played
brilliantly. She led all players with 20 kills, hit a solid .250,
and also notched 17 digs and a solo block. Barely holding off
tears, the senior was proud of the effort put out by her team,
despite the loss.
“It’s definitely hard to end this way,” she
said. “Everybody played really hard, and that was good to
see. We came a long way, this season.”