Nov. 23, 1999
MALIBU, Calif. - The sixth-ranked UCLA women's volleyball team fell to a tough road opponent on Tuesday evening, when the No. 10 Pepperdine Waves defended their home court to the tune of an 8-15, 7-15, 15-7, 15-7, 15-12 decision. With the loss, the Bruins fall to 25-3 on the 1999 season while Pepperdine improves to 24-3.
UCLA made it look easy in the first two games of the match, winning each game in just under 20 minutes. In particular, Bruin middle blocker Elisabeth Bachman came out of the gate hot, recording kills on her first 11 swings of the match.
Pepperdine, which was honored in a pre-match ceremony for a 14-0 West Coast Conference Championship season, would not go quietly. WCC Coach of the Year Nina (Grouwinkel) Matthies, who was named one of UCLA's 25 Greatest Players for her Bruin career from 1974-75, rallied her Waves in game three. Pepperdine used an early 4-0 lead to cruise to victory in the third game.
Game four proved to be more of the same, with Pepperdine's Rima Rackauskas serving the Waves to a 6-0 lead right out of the gate. After Pepperdine took the game 15-7, it was on to the rally-scored fifth game.
Game five was tight throughout, with the first lead of more than a point coming when Pepperdine took a 7-5 lead. After the teams switched benches at 8-5, the Waves continued to roll, upping the lead to 11-5 between two Bruin timeouts. UCLA scrapped back to 12-10 and 13-12, but were unable to take a lead, and fell 15-12.
Kristee Porter led the Bruins with 25 kills, and was the only player in the match to record more than 20 kills on the evening. Bachman finished with 14 kills and a .524 hitting percentage to go along with two block assists. Tamika Johnson was the only other Bruin with double-figure kills, finishing with 14 and seven blocks (2 BS/5 BA). Four Bruins had double-figure digs, led by Erika Selsor with 12. Porter and Stacy Millichap had 11 with Lauren Fendrick adding 10.
The Bruins now await their fate at the hands of the NCAA Tournament selection committee. The Tournament bracket will be announced on a half-hour selection show on Sunday, Nov. 28, at 7 p.m. PT. UCLA still has a chance to host a first/second round site at Pauley Pavilion, but that information will not be known until after the tournament pairings are announced.
Information on the Bruins road to the NCAA Championship will be posted on www.uclabruins.com as soon as it becomes available.