Busy weekend for Bruins ends with mixed results

Monday, November 18, 1996

WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL:

Disappointing loss to the Cardinal mitigated by solid trouncing
of Golden BearsBy John Kelly

Daily Bruin Contributor

At the intermission of Friday night’s UCLA women’s volleyball
game against Stanford, the athletic department put on a serving
contest for the fans. Fifteen members of the audience took their
chance at the line, attempting to hit an opposing court full of
targets.

They all missed.

Perhaps people should have had premonitions after the
performance of the Bruins in the first two games. By that time UCLA
had accumulated 23 errors, and went on to commit 17 in game three.
Everyone but the Cardinal was missing their shots on Friday night,
as Stanford soundly beat the Bruins 15-4, 15-8, 15-6.

As the match progressed, these problems were exacerbated by the
Cardinal’s size up front. By the end of the third game, a 15-6
Stanford victory, the Bruins had set a new UCLA record, one they
hardly could have wanted.

UCLA, winner of six national championships, the benchmark of
women’s volleyball excellence, had more hitting errors than kills,
giving them the lowest team hitting percentage ever.

The Bruins (15-12, 7-9 in the Pacific 10) were clearly
disappointed by the results. "We really didn’t play them with any
consistency," UCLA head coach Andy Banachowski said. "We held up
for four points, or five points, and then we just fell apart. Their
blocking really did a great job against us, and then we traded a
lot of hitting errors ourselves," Banachowski said.

Blocks up front were an obvious problem, as the Cardinal (22-2,
14-1) had 18. Hitting errors also punished the Bruins, as they
themselves acknowledged. "I didn’t think I really came to play
these last few days," junior outside hitter Tanisha Larkin said. It
showed on Friday, as Larkin had more hitting errors, 14, than the
entire Stanford team.

"She’s had some rough spots," Banachowski said. Junior Kara
Milling and senior Kim Krull fared little better, as they combined
for 17 errors.

However, Saturday was a different story, as UCLA took on Cal
(7-17, 3-13) in its last home game of the season. Payback was the
theme, as the Bruins stomped the Golden Bears in three games.

UCLA has had no trouble with Cal over the years, dominating the
series against them 32-0. The Golden Bears had played the Bruins
hard in Berkeley, taking UCLA to five games before the Bruins
pulled out the win. This was not the case on Saturday, as UCLA
continued to dominate the Bears, beating them 15-4, 15-12,
15-12.

"We didn’t play like we wanted to play up there. We were a
little embarrassed up there, (but in this game) we did what we
wanted to do," Coach Banachowski said. "Cal’s not as big as
Stanford, and they play a little different style, and I think we
were able to be a little more powerful," he said.

However, the Bruins sustained a major casualty when freshman
Melissa Wendt re-aggravated her knee injury from earlier this
season. Early reports indicated a torn anterior cruciate ligament,
which would be a season-ending ­ and possibly career-ending
­ injury. "It’s another setback that we’ll face … we’d set
up some nice continuities, and, well, here we go again,"
Banachowski said. "It looks like she’ll have to have invasive
surgery."

Nobody would have ever expected that Saturday would be Wendt’s
last game for the Bruins in Pauley Pavilion, but she could still
bounce back. However, three other players knew that Saturday’s game
against the Bears would be their farewell.

Saturday was the last home game for seniors Kim Krull, Kelly
Flannigan and Alison Zamora. The trio was honored before the
game.

"It was a good run," Krull said. "Kelly and I came in together,
and, well, it’s really nice to go out together."

AARON TOUT

Freshman Melissa Wendt goes for a kill against Stanford. She
severely injured her knee the next day against Cal.