Strong offense key in Oregon victories
By Jeff Eisenberg
Nov. 11, 2002 9:00 p.m.
Two weeks ago, the UCLA women’s volleyball team returned
from the state of Washington, red-faced and reeling.
This weekend’s jaunt to the Pacific Northwest left the
squad feeling much more optimistic.
The No. 19 Bruins swept a pair of matches against the Oregon
schools, trouncing the Beavers on Friday night (30-19, 30-25,
33-31) and cruising past the Ducks on Saturday (30-24, 30-25,
28-30, 30-27).
The pair of victories elevated UCLA (15-10, 8-7 Pac-10) to
fourth in the conference race, just a half game behind third-place
Arizona.
“It was critical for us to get a couple of wins against
teams that we are supposed to beat,” said UCLA head coach
Andy Banachowski. “We can’t afford to stub our toes too
many more times.”
After a month-long hitting slump in October, the Bruins fed off
of the offensive momentum they had built last week against Cal.
The squad hit .298 against Oregon State (2-12, 7-16) and .340
vs. Oregon (1-13, 11-17), displaying the sort of potent attack that
has been elusive all season. Brittany Ringel led the Bruins with 16
kills in Corvallis and Lauren Fendrick tallied 21 on Saturday night
in Eugene.
“We are getting better offensively, and eliminating our
mistakes,” Banachowski said. “In the past we have hurt
ourselves with unforced errors. It was certainly nice to see our
hitters making better decisions.”
Sophomore outside hitter Heather Cullen agreed, citing a change
in philosophy as the principal reason for the team’s
offensive improvement.
“We’ve been more strategic instead of hitting the
ball as hard as we can,” said Cullen, who notched a combined
20 kills over the weekend. “We’re obviously not the
most physical team so we have to play a little smarter.”
It will be critical for UCLA to continue to play well
offensively as the squad is without senior middle blocker Angela
Eckmier who will miss the remainder of the season after suffering a
torn left ACL in practice last Tuesday.
Freshman Nancy Barba made her first career starts over the
weekend in place of Eckmier, and performed admirably. She notched
seven kills in both games and did not make an error either
night.
“Not having Angela’s experience is going to hurt us
a lot, but Nancy came in and had a great weekend,”
Banachowski said. “She played very well.”
To extend their winning streak to four, the Bruins will need an
even better performance when they host No. 10 Pepperdine (18-6)
tonight. The Waves split a pair of matches with UCLA last season,
and have won eight straight entering tonight’s contest.
“We’re not known to have the best relationship with
them,” Cullen said. “Every time we play them we need to
win. We don’t really like them that much.”
While Banachowski downplays the personal aspects of the rivalry,
he is fully aware of the potential implications of a UCLA
victory.
“We haven’t had a lot of big wins yet this
season,” he said. “Beating a team like Pepperdine would
be absolutely huge.”
