Squad makes clean sweep at Thanksgiving Classic

  JESSE PORTER/Daily Bruin Senior Staff Kristee
Porter makes a diving save as Erika
Selsor looks on in the Bruins’ match against USC earlier
this season. UCLA d. Baylor 15-9, 15-7, 15-8
UCLA d. UConn 15-1, 15-9, 15-13

By Christina Teller and AJ
Cadman
Daily Bruin Senior Staff

Only four hours after they returned from the Baylor Thanksgiving
Classic on Sunday, the No. 11 UCLA women’s volleyball team
was back on campus, awaiting their seeding for the 2000 NCAA
tournament.

It wasn’t a question of whether or not they would receive
one of the 64 seeds; rather, it was who they would be pitted
against.

The Bruins, who had won the Baylor tournament just the previous
day, sweeping both UConn (19-13) and host Baylor (16-15), received
the No. 3 seed in the Mid-Eastern bracket.

“We weren’t nervous about getting in, but we were
nervous about possibly meeting Nebraska or Hawaii in the
regional,” junior outside hitter Ashley Bowles said.

“We were pleasantly surprised that we weren’t going
to have to meet one of them right away. We are happy with our
seed.”

UCLA (22-7) will host the opening two rounds of play facing
Morgan State (26-15) in the first round on Saturday. The winner of
that match will go up against the winner of the Michigan State
(17-12) vs. University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (23-4) match, that
will follow the first game.

The Bruins utilized the Baylor tournament as a final opportunity
to prepare before the tournament, and judging from their
performance, UCLA is ready.

“We got a chance to play and get some confidence and tweak
things around a little bit,” UCLA head coach Andy Banachowski
said. “And having to play Baylor at Baylor was a good
test.”

“We finished regular season playing really well. It helped
restore and renew our confidence.”

Led by the all-tournament performances of senior middle blocker
Elisabeth Bachman and junior outside hitters Bowles and Kristee
Porter, who was the tournament MVP, UCLA defeated Baylor in the
championship match with a 15-9, 15-7, 15-8 sweep.

The Bruins got out of the blocks to an early lead sparked by a
.333 team hitting percentage in game one. UCLA played efficiently,
demonstrating a better passing game than they had in the last two
weekends of the Pac-10 schedule.

This helped get Porter on track from the get-go, with eight of
her team-high 22 kills in the opening game.

UCLA also had strong play at the net from Bachman, who stifled
the Tigers at the start with four of her six match blocks in the
game one win. The senior captain recorded 11 kills on Saturday.

UCLA continued to attack well in game two, spurred by the same
defensive focus that garnered the Bruins the previous game win.

Porter hammered home nine of the Bruins’ 23 team kills in
the second game en route to a team hitting clip of .476 and a easy
15-7 game two victory.

Baylor mounted a stand in the decisive third game and managed to
play to a 8-8 tie. But the rally was too little too late as UCLA
put together a 7-0 run to claim their third consecutive match at
the end of the regular season.

Porter hit an impressive .514 for the match and notched two
service aces against Baylor. Bowles double-doubled for the second
time in three matches with 12 kills and 14 digs.

UCLA started the tournament on the right foot in defeating
Connecticut on Friday afternoon in three games 15-1, 15-9 and
15-13. The Bruins again overwhelmed their opponent early by hitting
.524 as a team in the opening game of their match with the
Huskies.

UCLA recorded 13 kills and just two errors, while holding UConn
to a meager .200 team attack percentage.

Bowles was the offensive leader for UCLA with six kills, as the
squad had five service aces in the opening game.

Game two showcased the defense as UCLA held the Huskies to a
.111 attack percentage. Net play from Bachman and freshman middle
blocker Ella Harley allowed the Bruins to overwhelm
Connecticut’s offensive attack. Bowles’ seven kills
allowed the Bruins to continue efficient offensive production and
shift focus to the defense.

UConn’s silence in the first two games of the match would
erupt into the toughest game for the Bruins in the entire
tournament. After UCLA had jumped to a 7-2 lead, the Huskies
battled back and tied it up at seven and waged a seesaw battle to
another tie at 12 later in the game. But the Bruins put the
handcuffs on the Husky attack to claim Friday’s match.

“We tried out a lot of new things, some new blocking
formations and some different hitting combinations and really just
having two more matches for us to get comfortable and build our
confidence and be ready to go,” Bachman said

Bowles finished with 21 kills and a deafening .576 attack
percentage. She was joined by two other Bruins in double figure
kills: Porter, with 15 kills and 10 digs and Bachman with 14 kills
to go along with three block assists and a .500 attack
percentage.

UCLA freshman middle blocker Cira Wright led the Bruins with
four block assists, while the Bruins had served well on the
afternoon with eight service aces.

With those wins under their belts, the Bruins can now focus on
what they’ve been waiting for all season: the tournament.