No stopping Bruin offense in dual wins at Washington

Wednesday, November 18, 1998

No stopping Bruin offense in dual wins

at Washington

RECAP: Volleyball power players hit new heights with kills,
defensive skills

By Nick Taylor

Daily Bruin Contributor

While the Bruin football team took charge of one Washington
school on Saturday, the UCLA women’s volleyball team decided to
complete a sweep through the Great Northwest.

UCLA beat Washington State in four games on Friday, 10-15, 15-4,
15-5, 15-10, and continued its winning ways with a victory over
Washington in four games, 14-16, 15-6, 15-4, 15-11.

The team’s record now stands at 13-10, including 12-4 in the
Pac-10.

Ashley Bowles led the team with a career high 35 kills against
the Huskies and added 21 kills against the Cougars. She provided
consistent offense on Friday and was dominant in Sunday’s
match.

"We certainly kept sending her the ball," said head coach Andy
Banachowski. "And what she did was remarkable."

Against the Cougars, the Bruins needed to overcome a first game
loss before they took the last three games of the match. As usual,
the Bruins relied on their offensive super-trio of Bowles, Kristee
Porter and Elisabeth Bachman.

Bachman carried the Bruins early in the match with powerful
tomahawk spikes, and then Porter took over. Porter used her
exceptional leaping ability to fly above the defense and pound the
ball past the Cougars. Her 25 kills led all scorers on Friday as
she helped carry the Bruins to victory.

"When she is on like that," Banachowski said, "nobody can touch
her."

Bowles, however, was the most consistent player for the Bruins
on Friday. She supplemented the offense with 21 kills, and just as
importantly, served six aces. Her serving crossed up the Cougars on
defense, resulting in Washington State’s poor passing on the
attack.

While UCLA seemingly took control and dominated Washington
State, the match was actually much closer than it appeared. UCLA
struggled to get ahead of the Cougars, since there were many
sideouts before UCLA pulled ahead. When both offenses are on, many
sideouts result because of each offense’s good execution.

The Bruin defense took control, though, and held the Cougars to
.111 and .100 hitting percentages overall in the second and third
games.

Offense continued to dominate in Sunday’s match against the
Huskies. Porter (24 kills), Bachman (16) and Nihipali (11)
complemented Bowles on offense for the Bruins. But they were
countered by four Washington players who had double figures in
kills, topped by Kristina Laffling’s 25 kills.

UCLA lost the first game, 14-16, to the Huskies. Immediately
afterwards, Banachowski had reason for concern.

"It’s kind of an uneasy situation when we lose that first game,"
he said. "You begin to wonder whether we can keep our composure and
win." But he added that the Bruins just kept reaching back and
eventually took control in the match.

The Bruins certainly did that. Behind Bowles they hit .394 and
.349 in the second and third games, and limited the Huskies to .125
and -.019 hitting in those two games.

The Bruin defense, once again, put the clamp on its opponents.
Bachman had 12 blocks and nine digs, nearly reaching a triple
double. Chaska Potter had a team high 20 digs, and UCLA limited
Washington to .149 percent hitting overall.

Ultimately, the Bruin offense was just too much for the
Washington schools to handle. The team will improve on their No. 16
ranking and need one more win to make the tournament.

The Bruins have three matches left ­ all at home. They play
Stanford on Friday at 7 p.m., and they will follow up with matches
Sunday against Cal and Tuesday against Pepperdine.

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