Lagging team looks up in anticipation

Friday, October 24, 1997

Lagging team looks up in anticipation

W.VOLLEYBALL: Bruins hope to find consistency their season has
lacked

By Jennifer Kollenborn

Daily Bruin Staff

The No. 23 UCLA (4-5 in the Pac 10, 9-7 overall) women’s
volleyball team entertains the Washington schools this weekend,
aspiring to even the score.

Previously, the Bruins lost to No. 10 Washington State (6-3,
18-3) 1-3 in Pullman, Wash. on Sept. 27 and fell to No. 21
Washington (6-3, 11-7) 0-3 at Hec Edmundson Pavilion in
Washington.

Since the September losses, the Cougars have lost three matches
against Pac-10 schools, including No. 15 Arizona, No. 21
Washington, and No. 4 Stanford, while prevailing against two
unranked teams – Arizona State and UC Berkeley. At the same time,
the Huskies lost three games and won three. The Huskies lost to No.
5 USC, Arizona State and Stanford while defeating No. 15 Arizona,
Washington State and UC Berkeley.

UCLA leads the series against the Cougars 19-4, and leads
against the Huskies 27-4, but has lost to UW both times last season
and once this season.

UCLA has been working on its consistency this week in preparing
to play the two schools, and the Bruins’ head coach believes that
Washington State may be the easier team to prepare for, regardless
of the Huskies’ strength.

"I think we match up better against Washington State than we do
against Washington," head coach Andy Banachowski said. "I don’t
think that we were playing at full strength when we made the road
trip to Washington earlier in the season. I know we have improved
since then, so hopefully we will be able to avenge those two losses
and win both of the matches here this weekend."

However, UCLA’s inconsistent play this season may stand in the
way of Bruin success this year.

"We don’t have the consistency, and that’s what we’ve been
working on this week," Banachowski said. "We have been drilling a
lot trying to be more successful consistently, and that has
previously been our downfall. We need to develop that consistency
and not give away points with our own mistakes; we’re going to be
able to move ourselves up in the ranking. So, I’m really hoping
that we will take a giant step this weekend."

For the UCLA team to prove its talent, it will have to shut down
the Cougars’ Shannon Wyckoff, who is currently No. 9 on the Pac-10
list with 2.79 digs per game and a total of 1,114 career digs; and
the Huskies’ top player, Makare Desilets, fourth in all-time Pac-10
block assists, with 464. She needs 13 block assists to pass UCLA’s
Daiva Tomkus ,who has 473, and she has to rack up 578 total blocks
to surpass Tomkus for No. 4 all-time on the career blocks list.