NCAA Women’s Volleyball Playoffs : Freshmen Lead UCLA Over Cal in First Round

The last time UCLA played California in women’s volleyball, the entire match took 45 minutes.

The first game alone took almost that long Friday night in the first round of the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. championships at John Wooden Center.

But the top-ranked UCLA women aren’t No. 1 for nothing. They have a system for a one game mini-slump: They mount a freshman attack with starters Laurie Jones and Elaine Youngs.

And Cal, which trailed by just 11-10 in the first game and had a 7-1 lead in the second game, was unable to respond.

The Bruins (32-0) won, 15-10, 15-8, 15-12, before 949 fans and earned the right to play host to the NCAA West Regional at Pauley Pavilion next Friday and Saturday. Cal ended the season 19-15.

“I just took tonight as a regular game,” said Youngs, who led UCLA with 14 kills. “I wasn’t nervous at all before the game. The first game is the toughest, because, well, it is the playoffs and you don’t want to play bad with a team as good as this.”

With UCLA up, 10-8, in the first game, it took 14 sideouts and a Jones spike to move the Bruins up a point.

At 11-10, Jones responded again with a key spike to give UCLA a 2-point lead. After a Daiva Tomkus kill, Jones was relentless in keeping a rally alive until Young scored on a cross-court kill. Tomkus’ ace then put the first game away.

The Bruins quickly spotted Cal a 7-1 lead in the second game. Two kills by Bruin outside hitter Jenny Crocker helped move the Bruins up, 7-4. A kill by Jones and a block and a dink by Young tied it, 7-7. With Jones serving at 10-7, the Bruins scored 3 more points and went on to win, 15-8.

UCLA kept up the suspense by blowing 6-1 and 14-9 leads in the third game before Bruin outside hitter Samantha Shaver, who had 13 kills and 12 digs in the match, put the win away with a block.

In the West regional semifinals next Friday at 6 and 8 p.m., UCLA will face Brigham Young, which defeated Arizona, 11-15, 15-9, 15-7, 15-5, Friday, and Stanford will face Washington, which beat Arizona State, 15-11, 15-10, 15-4. . . . Stanford defeated USC, 15-13, 15-11, 15-7, Thursday night at Palo Alto.