Porter’s return boosts Bruins’ team strength

By Andrew Borders
Daily Bruin Reporter

Thank you, Kristee Porter.

The No. 14 UCLA women’s volleyball team received the
eighth seed overall and the second seed in its quarter of the
bracket for the 2001 NCAA Women’s Volleyball
Championship.

The Bruins will face the Penn Quakers in the first round,
followed by a likely matchup against Penn State and a possible trip
to national No. 1 Long Beach State for the rounds of eight and
16.

UCLA head coach Andy Banachowski and two seniors ““ setter
Erika Selsor and outside hitter Ashley Bowles ““ gave large
credit to the return of senior outside hitter Kristee Porter for
the high seeding.

“We’re at full strength,” Banachowski
said.

“You’ve got to say it helped our seed,” Bowles
added.

“I don’t think they would have given us the eighth
seed (without Porter),” Selsor concurred.

Porter had been declared ineligible by the school Oct. 19 while
UCLA and the NCAA gathered information as part of an
“extra-benefits” investigation. She was reinstated last
Wednesday, just in time for the postseason.

But not even Porter could override the NCAA’s interest in
keeping teams close to their homes because of the current
reluctance to travel via airplane.

Despite having the second seed in its fourth of the bracket, the
Bruins will travel to State College, Penn., with the University of
Pennsylvania, Fairfield of Connecticut and host Penn State.

“They did that in a number of the brackets,”
Banachowski said.

The Bruins are 14th in the latest AVCA poll, and only nine of
the top 16 teams in the poll were tabbed as hosts.

In some of the most interesting twists of the selection
committee’s preferences, No. 2 Nebraska will travel to
conference foe Kansas State, No. 4 Arizona will visit Illinois and
No. 5 USC will go to Duke.

Six Pac-10 teams made the round of 64, and two, Stanford and
Washington State, are hosting, with the Cougars looking at a
possible matchup with Oregon State in the second round.