W. volleyball¹s top players hit hard by contagious

Thursday, October 10, 1996

VOLLEYBALL:

Improvement inhibited due to team’s plague of health problemsBy
Grace Wen

Daily Bruin Senior Staff

There’s a disease being spread by a little pest.

The UCLA women’s volleyball team wishes the injury bug would
just go away. In the span of a month, the little gnat has bitten
five players, including four outside hitters.

First it was Kara Milling, who went down with a foot injury
during a match against Utah. The 6-foot, 1-inch junior had been
leading the team in kills per game and was the team’s most
effective outside hitter after switching from the right side to the
left.

But Milling broke a bone in her foot and was slated to be out
for three to six weeks. Sophomore Chaska Potter replaced the
injured Milling, and was healthy for three weeks before she was
forced to sit out due to a skin infection. Potter missed UCLA’s
match against cross-town rival USC and a non-conference match
against UCSB before returning to the lineup last Saturday against
Arizona State.

While Potter was out, freshman Jennifer Wittenburg stepped up
and started the match against USC. In her first collegiate start,
Wittenburg posted 14 kills, one ace and four digs. Although the
6-foot, 2-inch outside hitter hadn’t carried a major passing load
prior to that match, Wittenburg held her own in UCLA’s five-game
victory.

For a short time, it seemed as if UCLA might be on the way to
establishing a little consistency. But that pesky little bug took
another bite out of the Bruin squad.

"(Wittenburg) had been experiencing some difficulty with the
knee tightening up," UCLA head coach Andy Banachowski said. "It was
a situation where she missed a couple of days of practice the week
prior to the ‘SC match because the knee had tightened up on her.
Then it was fine and she was able to play against USC, but she
really jolted it hard at Monday’s practice."

Freshman redshirt Lyn Embree filled the void left by Wittenburg
and started two matches before Potter returned to form.

UCLA’s only freshman who hasn’t seen playing time is 6-foot,
2-inch Melissa Wendt. In a preseason interview, Banachowski said,
"I really look for her to be the first of the freshmen to step on
the court for us. With her size and arm speed and all her other
skills, she’s the most likely of the freshmen to be the first to
break into the lineup."

But alas, the dumb insect had other plans. Wendt suffered a
preseason knee injury that has sidelined her from the start. Wendt
has been cleared to practice and could see playing time as soon as
she is ready.

The only injured player that hasn’t been an outside hitter is
sophomore opposite/middle blocker Linda Shudlick. Shudlick strained
a muscle in her back at the same time Potter was out. "She’s still
got a little bit of tenderness and tightness in her back,"
Banachowski said. "But she practiced very well yesterday (Monday),
and I think she’s going to be off our injured list pretty soon.

"It’s hard to really establish some continuity and make
progress. I don’t feel that we’ve been able to grow and improve as
much as we can because we haven’t had consistency with our
lineup."

With Potter, Wendt and Milling cleared to practice, maybe UCLA
has finally exterminated that annoying little bug, or at least
doused it with some Raid.