ONLINE EXTRA: Trojans dominate UCLA, register three-game sweep

Photos by CATHERINE JUN/Daily Bruin Senior Staff Brynn
Murphy spikes the ball into the opposition’s court on
Friday’s volleyball match against USC.

By Andrew Borders
Daily Bruin Reporter

As close as the volleyball squads at UCLA and USC are in the
polls just three spots separate the fifth-ranked Trojans from the
eighth-ranked Bruins only the Trojans played at the level of a
nationally elite team Friday night.

The match started out as a close one, with UCLA (5-2, 0-1
Pac-10) gaining a 19-15 advantage in the first game. But USC (6-1,
1-0 Pac-10) closed that gap and shut out any chance of a Bruin
victory the rest of the night, winning 30-27, 30-21 and 30-12.

The third game was especially one-sided, as the Bruins never
led, and USC finished with an 11-2 run. The last time the Bruins
fell so decisively in a single game was against Washington State on
Nov. 16, a 15-3 Cougar win.

The last time USC swept UCLA was in 1997, in a match that was
almost an exact opposite of Friday’s contest.

While the Bruins got worse as the match went on this time
around, they improved in the same context four years ago, losing
2-15, 8-15, 13-15.

Senior outside hitter Kristee Porter, usually the team’s best
source of offense, was all but stifled. Porter hit .163, lower than
all six Trojans with more than ten attacks. As a team, UCLA hit
.141 to USC’s .349.

Though senior setter Erika Selsor led all participants with 30
assists, the Bruins were soundly defeated in that category as well,
48-34.

UCLA’s middle blocker position, a major question mark when going
up against elite teams like USC, was also rendered ineffective as
USC had 12 block assists to UCLA’s six.

"They were better than we were at every position tonight," UCLA
Head Coach Andy Banachowski said. "The things we do well, we didn’t
do well tonight."

The players agreed that they didn’t play at a high enough level
to defeat an elite team on the road.

"I think they played extremely well. They showed up to play
today and took care of business. We did not do any of those
things," Selsor added. "We’re playing USC at USC and you’ve got to
come to play and we didn’t do that."

It wasn’t difficult to find criticism of UCLA’s play from a
Trojan point of view, either.

"The other team didn”št really seem like they came out to
play," USC sophomore middle blocker Katie Olsovsky said.

"I don’t think they played their best game tonight," Trojan
sophomore April Ross added.

But while UCLA players expressed the attitude that the match on
Oct. 19 at Pauley Pavilion will be a closer one, USC senior middle
blocker Jennifer Pahl disagreed.

"I think we are a better team and I think we showed them that
tonight," she said.