Volleyball : Bruin Women Struggle but Beat Cardinal

The UCLA women’s volleyball team, with only two seniors, is young and somewhat inexperienced. It is also extremely talented, which explains its success.

Seemingly headed for an easy victory over Stanford, their toughest Pacific 10 Conference rival, the Bruins stumbled and bumbled before eventually beating the Cardinal, 15-7, 14-16, 15-2, 7-15, 15-6, Thursday night before 2,518 fans at Pauley Pavilion.

Without taking anything away from Stanford, ranked sixth in the nation, it was clear that the Bruins, with standouts Daiva Tomkus, Elaine Youngs and Jenny Evans, still need to become accustomed to each other.

The second-ranked Bruins (10-1 overall, 5-0 in Pac-10) increased their conference record for consecutive victories to 23. They are 20-9 against the Cardinal (8-4, 4-2).

Youngs, who led both teams with 20 kills, including two key spikes with the Bruins leading, 10-6, in the final game, said she was surprised that after taking the first game so easily the Bruins were forced to go five games, but admitted that the team still needs a lot of work before realizing its full potential. “Communication is a key,” she said, “and we lost it in the second and fourth games.”

Though they were sloppy at times, Stanford did have its moments. Hitter Kristin Klein was constantly a thorn in the Bruins side, serving the Cardinal to victory in the second game and finishing with 19 kills.