For four games, the UCLA women’s volleyball team appeared
to be up for the task of uprooting Stanford.
Then came the fifth game.
In a hotly contested match Thursday night, the No. 16 Bruins
dropped a five-game heartbreaker to the No. 12 Cardinal 25-30,
30-25, 32-30, 25-30, 15-8.
The issues that have plagued the women’s volleyball team
all season emerged again Thursday night. This time, it was the
Bruins’ inability to put away the match when given the
opportunity.
“We played a solid four games,” UCLA coach Andy
Banachowski said. “We just kind of collapsed in the fifth
game.”
In the decisive fifth game, the Bruins (14-8, 7-5 Pac-10) fell
behind quickly 8-1, a deficit they couldn’t dig themselves
out of, losing 15-8.
With the victory, the Cardinal(16-6, 8-3 Pac-10) ran its winning
streak over UCLA to eight, and another opportunity for the Bruins
to defeat Stanford went by the wayside.
In the third game, UCLA had two opportunities to take the game
at 29-28, and 30-29 for a 2-1 lead, but the team simply could not
hold on.
“That game was really disappointing for us,”
Banachowski said. “Had we won that game, we’d be
talking about a victory right now.”
The match was eerily similar to the Bruins’ last five-game
match. In the match last Tuesday, the Bruins were up 2-0 against
Pepperdine, only to end up losing the last three games.
It has been a recurring theme for the Bruins, who have been
unable to find ways to win close matches as of late.
In Thursday’s fifth game, the Bruins were particularly
hurt by two consecutive service errors that effectively handed
Stanford the match.
“At that point, we were down by so much,”
Banachowski said. “We almost had to be perfect and we
definitely couldn’t afford any errors like that.”
The Bruins’ lone bright spots on the night were outside
hitter Becky Green and setter Krystal McFarland.
Green, a sophomore, once again stepped in for former starter
Brittany Ringel and injured Heather Cullen, leading the team with
18 kills and a .182 hitting percentage.
McFarland, meanwhile, recovered nicely after coming back from
her ankle injury, recording eight kills of her own.
“Krystal took advantage of the opportunities given to
her,” Banachowski said. “When the Stanford block moved
to the outside, she was able to find an open gap.”
But in the end, the powerful tandem could not hold up to the
Cardinal attack led by All-American Ogonna Nnamani.
Nnamani, a U.S. Olympian, led Stanford with 24 kills, and a .296
hitting percentage and was dominant for much of the night.
“She is pretty outstanding to go against,”
Banachowski said. “We had triple blocks up against her all
night and she still had success.”
Thursday’s loss put the Bruins in fifth place in the
Pac-10 and on the outside looking in for gaining a top seed in the
NCAA Tournament.
The Bruins will play Cal later today, where they will look to
extend their winning streak over the Golden Bears to 46 matches
without a defeat.