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UCLA Defeats Virginia in NCAA Tournament
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December 7, 1998
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – The University of Virginia volleyball team began play in the first round of the 1998 NCAA Division I Women’s National Championship. UVa, making its first NCAA appearance in school history, opened competition in the tournament by facing the UCLA Bruins in the Thunderdome on the campus of the University of California at Santa Barbara.
In game one, UCLA jumped out to an early 4-0 lead before UVa responded by scoring six consecutive points to take a 6-4 lead. The Bruins answered the Cavaliers scoring run with an 11-1 run of their own and captured the first game by the score of 15-7.
UCLA opened the second game with a 5-0 lead and extended the scoring margin to 14-3 before sealing the game 15-6. The Bruins kept the heat on Virginia by pulling out to a 4-0 lead in the third game. However, UVa would rally and climbed within one point at 4-3 and 7-6 before knotting the score at 7-7. The Cavaliers rode an 11-3 run to open up an 11-7 lead. UCLA battled back to tie the score on three occasions before taking a 13-12 lead. But Virginia would answer right back by claiming four of the last five points to win the game 16-14.
For the fourth consecutive game, the Bruins pulled out to an early lead. UCLA score eight of the first nine points, including the first three, and pulled out to an 8-1 advantage. Once again, UVa rebounded from an early setback and narrowed the scoring gap on a 4-0 run to make the score 8-5. However, the Bruins used a 7-0 run to capture the fourth game 15-5 to win the match 3-1.
Virginia finished the match with two players in double figures in kills. The duo of Andrea Fischer (11 kills, 6 digs, 4 blocks) and Claire Folga (11 kills, 11 digs, 2 blocks) paced UVa up front. Setter Mary Frances Scott dished-out a team-high 35 assists to go along with six digs and three blocks. Jessica Parsons posted nine kills and four digs to add with a team-high five blocks, while teammate Katie Jones posted team-highs with 12 digs and three service aces to add with five kills. Deanna Zwarich (9 kills, 4 blocks), Amanda Wells (7 digs) and Kristi Winters (7 digs) contributed in the loss.
UCLA was led by Kristee Porter’s match-high 30 kills. She also recorded 13 digs, three services and two blocks. Erika Selsor paced the Bruins with a match-high 54 assists, and Ashley Bowles added 18 kills and 14 kills in the victory.
“We expected UCLA to come out strong, so we didn’t lose our composure when we fell behind early,” said UVa head volleyball coach Melissa Aldrich Shelton. “We had to compensate UCLA’s size and power with good ball control. PAC-10 teams are bigger, ACC teams have good ball control. I think that’s main difference right now between the PAC-10 and ACC.”