With a sweep of the Washington schools last weekend, the UCLA
women’s volleyball team broke even in the Pac-10 standings at
2-2. Trouble is, they could be right back to where they started
this weekend.
The next two matches, against UC Berkeley and defending national
champion Stanford, could quickly become a step in the wrong
direction for the Bruins. Losing both, however, is unlikely; the
team is 40-0 against Cal all-time.
Stanford, to put it mildly, is less than beatable. As such, UCLA
head coach Andy Banachowski stressed the importance of getting at
least a split.
“We can’t afford to get swept again. More
importantly, we need to make sure we can win on the road, something
we didn’t do at Arizona,” Banachowski said.
Obviously, the team is counting on a victory against Cal. But
that is not to say that they’ve given up on beating the
Cardinal at Maples Pavilion.
“We go into every game trying to win but there’s
going to be some extra urgency against Cal, because we know
they’re beatable,” sophomore Heather Cullen said.
Her teammate, Haley Jorgensborg, agrees.
“We have to just know that we’re going to beat
them,” she said.
Cal (10-1) is a veteran team that has started this season on a
hot streak. The Bruins expect a tough contest in which, ultimately,
they will prevail.
And then there is Stanford. This year’s first showdown
with the rival Cardinal lacks the usual drama. UCLA, despite being
a traditional powerhouse program, is a big underdog. Logan Tom,
Stanford’s star player, has led the Cardinal to a 12-1
record. But despite their youth and inexperience, the Bruins are
talented and hungry enough to pull off the upset.
“We just need to get on a hot streak,” Banachowski
said. “If we play inspired and get after them, we know we can
hang with Stanford.”
Perhaps that is more than just wishful thinking. Last year UCLA
pushed Stanford to five games while playing without their star,
Kristee Porter. In fact, the Bruins jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the
match, only to have Stanford rally back to victory.
“This game is all about momentum. We proved that last
year. As long as we get momentum on our side, anything can
happen,” Cullen said.
If they have nothing else, the Bruins are fiesty. Indeed, the
players seem to be relishing this new role of underdog.
“We’re going to go all-out, we’ve got nothing
to lose,” Jorgensborg said. “Plus, I think we all
really want to stuff-block Logan Tom.”
Both matches will be broadcast via internet radio on
uclabruins.com