UCLA to take on Stanford in heated matchup
By Daily Bruin Staff
Oct. 10, 2001 9:00 p.m.
 MARY HOLSCHER Senior outside hitter Ashley
Bowles digs the ball in a victory over Arizona State.
By Diamond Leung
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
The UCLA women’s volleyball team has won its last four
matches. Stanford has won its last five.
This week, something is going to give when the No. 5 Bruins face
off against the No. 4 Cardinal tonight at Pauley Pavilion. UCLA
also hosts Cal on Friday.
“We’re pretty excited,” UCLA head coach Andy
Banachowski said. “We’ve been playing well, so
we’re anxious to see if we can continue that.”
W. Volleyball PREVIEW vs. Tonight 7 p.m. Pauley
Pavilion vs. Friday 7 p.m. Pauley Pavilion
However, in order to continue the winning streak, the Bruins
(9-2, 4-1 Pac-10) will have to get past a Stanford team (13-1, 6-0)
that features junior All-American outside hitter Logan Tom. She is
also on the U.S. National team and arguably the top player in the
country.
Tom was named last week’s Pac-10 Player of the Week
““ the third time she has received the honor this season.
“Logan’s an outstanding player,” Banachowski
said. “We’ve got to neutralize her a little bit without
focusing on her completely.”
That’s because Tom has a sidekick in freshman outside
hitter Ogonna Nnamani. People may not be able to pronounce her name
right now, but it’s a name that the volleyball world will
hear about for the next four years.
Nnamani was Volleyball magazine’s top-ranked recruit, and
she’s lived up to the hype. She is currently second on her
team in kills and hitting percentage.
Of course, UCLA has a pretty good attacker of its own. Senior
All-American outside hitter Kristee Porter broke the all-time
school and conference record for kills last week with 2,115.
“(Porter) is easily one of the most explosive players in
our game,” Stanford head coach John Dunning said. “She
has gotten better and better every year.”
“I know their seniors are on a mission. I expect it to be
a great match,” he added.
UCLA senior setter Erika Selsor agrees.
“We’ve played well for the past two weeks, and
they’re definitely on an upswing right now,” she said.
“I think it’s going to be a great match. It will be to
good teams going at it. It should be a lot of fun.”
What should be even more fun for UCLA is playing Cal (5-6, 1-4).
The Golden Bears have not beaten the Bruins in 38 tries.
