UCLA
USC
Women's Volleyball Falls to USC in Four Games
October 06, 2000 | Women's Volleyball
Oct. 6, 2000
LOS ANGELES - UCLA was able to stop USC's streak of consecutive games won, but it wasn't enough on Friday night as the Women of Troy defeated UCLA 3-1. Game scores were 15-11, 15-11, 8-15, 15-11. USC is now 13-0, 7-0 Pac-10, while the Bruins fall to 10-5, 5-2 Pac-10.
The Bruins started slowly in game one, allowing the Women of Troy to jump out to a 9-1 lead. From there, UCLA was able to regroup, scrapping together points to close within 14-11. Elisabeth Bachman led the way in the first game of the match, downing UCLA's first two kills and finishing with six in the game. Bachman also had UCLA's only block of the game.
In game two, the Bruins opened strong, with Kristee Porter recording five of the team's first six kills. The service of senior Michelle Quon took UCLA out to a 6-1 lead before USC started their comeback. The Women of Troy put together a rally behind the service of Tracy Lindquist to take a 7-6 lead. That lead would extend to 11-7 before UCLA head coach Andy Banachowski called his second and final timeout of the game. The tide turned immediately, with the Bruins regaining service on a kill by Ashley Bowles, which was followed by a service ace by Ella Harley, a handling error on USC and a kill by Bachman closed the gap to 11-10. USC called its final timeout of the game at that point, and the Women of Troy were able to stop the Bruins in their tracks, converting on two straight Bruin hitting errors and extending their lead to 14-10. A kill by Antoinette Polk on USC's second game point closed out the game with a second consecutive 15-11 win. Porter's nine kills in the second game made her the first player in the match to reach double-figure kills.
Game three started much like the second game of the match, with UCLA opening up a 5-1 lead before USC chipped away and built a 6-5 lead of their own. A Bruin timeout stopped the Trojan momentum, and the Bruins began to build a lead of their own. Harley's service gave UCLA an 8-7 lead, which was built to a 10-7 Bruin advantage before USC called a timeout of their own. That didn't stop the Bruins, who allowed just one more point before putting together a rally that would end the game. Porter connected on 12 kills in game three alone, connecting at a .435 clip. UCLA closed out the game with a 15-8 win, snapping USC's 38-game winning streak.
A back-and-forth battle started game four, with 26 sideouts interspersed between points as the teams remained tied at 6-6. USC put together a mini-run to take an 8-6 lead before UCLA called a timeout. Between 13 more sideouts, the Women of Troy put together a 13-9 lead before the Bruins called their final timeout. USC would serve for the match nine times, with UCLA bringing the score to 14-11 before a hitting error by Ashley Bowles closed out the game and the match, 15-11 in USC's favor.
Porter had 30 kills in the match, the fourth time this season and 12th time in her career that she has reached that milestone. She was joined in double-figure kills by Bowles with 17, Lauren Fendrick with 15, Bachman with 14 and Harley with 11. Bowles and Porter double-doubled with 12 and 10 kills, respectively, while setter Erika Selsor turned in a 79 assist-10 dig performance. It was the second time this year and 10th time in her career that she has topped 70 assists in a match.
UCLA returns to action next week, traveling to Arizona for a Thursday evening match at 7 p.m., and then moving on to Tucson for a 7:30 pm patch at Arizona State. The ASU match will be broadcast live on FOX Sports Net. In the Los Angeles area, it will be broadcast live on Fox Sports West 2.
