Active squad strives to take a big step beyond

WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL STARTERS Kristee Porter, OH
(Sr.) Erika Selsor, Setter (Sr.) Angele Eckmier, MB (Jr.) Chrissie
Zartman (Fr.), defensive specialist Ashley Bowles, OH (Sr.) Lauren
Fendrick, OH (Jr.) SOURCE: UCLA Sports Info JARRETT QUON AND VICTOR
CHEN/Daily Bruin Senior Staff   Daily Bruin File Photo Senior
Kristee Porter spikes the ball in a match against
USC last season.

By Andrew Borders
Daily Bruin Reporter

Eight may have been enough for Dick Van Patten, but no one in
the Bradford family could crush a volleyball like Kristee Porter.
This year, the Bruins are looking to move past the round of eight
that they have reached for the past two years and take a
“step beyond.”

They’ve gone so far as to make that phrase the theme of
their season.

“We want to take a step beyond that regional final and get
to the Final Four,” said UCLA head coach Andy Banachowski.
“We’re going to take a step beyond in all of our
workouts and not take any shortcuts and make sure that we can make
it all the way to the Final Four this year.”

Appropriate enough then that their season literally rests in the
hands of number eight senior setter Erika Selsor, who is on track
to become UCLA’s career leader in assists about halfway
through the season. Against Hawai’i, Selsor tallied her
5,000th career assist and is 524 short of Ann Boyer
(’88).

Selsor is one of three seniors who are all but assured starting
spots for the 2001 campaign. All-American outside hitter Kristee
Porter notched her 2,000th career kill in the Hawaii match and is
61 short of Natalie Williams (’92). Right-side hitter Ashley
Bowles is seeking her fourth all-conference selection.

Selsor says she’s optimistic about the team’s
chances to be on the court in San Diego State’s Cox Arena
this December.

“I think we’ve got a well-rounded, quick group of
players,” she said.

Teaming with Porter at the outside hitter position is junior
Lauren Fendrick, who ranks second on the team in the all-important
kill category through the first two weekends with 3.95 per
game.

While the offense is set, the defensive makeup is not wholly
determined. Michelle Quon’s departure after last season left
the defensive setter position up for grabs. Both sophomore Stacey
Lee and freshman Chrissie Zartman have played in all 19 games
through the first two weekends, with Zartman having better numbers
than her more experienced teammate.

The middle blocker position is an even greater wild card. After
number one Elisabeth Bachman graduated following last season, the
Bruins have yet to settle on another number one. The only sure
thing about the middle blocker position is that the freshman who
inherited Bachman’s number one jersey, Brittany Ringel, is an
outside hitter and is not one of the four contending for the
spot.

“The experience that Liz (Bachman) and Quon had is
something you can’t teach,” Selsor said.

Whoever fills the role will have to compete with numbers
difficult to match. Bachman ranked second all time in all blocking
categories, each time behind Marissa Hatchett (’92). She also
tops the school list in hitting percentage at .362.

“The middle blocker position is still up in the air.
(Freshman) Brynn Murphy had a great training camp. (Junior) Angela
Eckmier had a great blocking tournament for us, and (sophomore)
Cira Wright came in and played really well in our match against
Kansas State. (Freshman) Heather Cullen came off the bench and made
a few plays for us, too,” Banachowski said. “I think
we’re really deep at the middle blocker position right now.
I’m just waiting for a couple of them to step up and really
show that they are going to be able to carry the load.”

After the first regular season poll, the Bruins register at No.
7 in the nation. Their schedule is among the toughest anywhere, as
five of the other top nine teams are on the docket. The Bruins fell
to No. 1 Nebraska on the Cornhuskers’ home court Sept. 9, and
swept then-No.5 Hawai’i on its home court on Sept. 2. The
Wahine dropped in ranking to No. 10. Arizona, USC and Stanford are
No. 5, No. 6, and No. 9 respectively, and face UCLA twice each.

The Bruins are familiar with the other four teams in the top 10,
having met No. 3 Wisconsin, No. 4 Penn State and No. 8 Pacific on
their 2000 postseason run. No. 2 Long Beach State, which has
already defeated No. 1 Nebraska this season, is not on UCLA’s
schedule and the two teams have not met since 1996. In stark
contrast, the teams met 50 times between 1970 and 1978, 10 in 1973
alone.

The biggest win for the Bruins so far this year was their sweep
of Hawai’i to win the Hawaiian Airlines Classic. It reversed
what happened a year earlier, when the Bruins were the victim of
the Hawai’i broom.

“We’re better and they’re not,”
Banachowski said. “We’re a lot more experienced and a
lot more talented than we were last year.”

The victory was the 901st of Banachowski’s career, the 900
milestone having been achieved the night before against Kansas
State. In further testimony to UCLA’s tradition, the only
college volleyball coach to have more wins is Banachowski’s
men’s counterpart in Westwood, Al Scates. Scates has 1,019
wins and has been at the helm for 39 seasons to Banachowski’s
35, with both coaches averaging 26 wins per year.

Of course, the most treasured of Banachowski’s wins are
the six national titles he has won. But recent years haven’t
added to the volleyball hardware shelf in the Morgan Center, as the
last national title captured by UCLA was in 1991, and the last
final four appearance in 1994. But with three seniors and, if
Eckmier becomes the first-string middle blocker, two juniors in the
starting six, now is fast becoming the time to commemorate the
championship of a decade ago with a seventh to go with it.

WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL SCHEDULE
Date Opponent
Outcome/Time 8/31 Michigan W, 3-0 9/1 Kansas W,
3-1 9/2 Hawai’i W, 3-0 9/7 Notre Dame W, 3-0 9/8 Pepperdine W, 3-0
9/9 Nebraska L, 3-0 9/13 @ Oregon St. 7 p.m. 9/14 @ Oregon 7 p.m.
9/21 @ USC 7 p.m. 9/28 Arizona 7 p.m. 9/29 Arizona St. 7 p.m. 10/4
@ Washington 7 p.m. 10/5 @ Washington St. 7 p.m. 10/11 Stanford 7
p.m. 10/12 California 7 p.m. 10/19 USC 7 p.m. 10/25 @ Arizona St. 7
p.m. 10/26 @ Arizona 7 p.m. 11/2 Washington St. 7 p.m. 11/3
Washington 7 p.m. 11/8 @ California 7 p.m. 11/9 @ Stanford 7 p.m.
11/11 @ St. Mary’s Ca 2:05 p.m. 11/15 Oregon 7 p.m. 11/16 Oregon
St. 7 p.m. 11/20 @ Pepperdine 7 p.m. SOURCE: UCLA Sports Info
(schedule is tentative) VICTOR CHEN/Daily Bruin Senior Staff