WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS : Bruins Use Their Hatchett to Reach Finals

It’s probably no coincidence that the start of a late-season surge by the UCLA women’s volleyball team coincided with the reinsertion of middle blocker Marissa Hatchett into the starting lineup last month.

“I think that’s part of it, certainly,” Coach Andy Banachowski said Thursday night after the defending national champion Bruins overpowered Ohio State, 15-8, 15-8, 15-5, at Pauley Pavilion in the semifinals of the NCAA tournament. “I think, at that time, we clearly defined what she was supposed to do and what everybody else was supposed to do.

“Everybody responded and we started to put it together.”

An All-Pacific 10 Conference selection and all-tournament choice at the final four last season after helping UCLA win 36 of 37 matches and its second NCAA championship, Hatchett slumped at the start of this season and was taken out of the starting lineup for 10 matches at mid-season.

It didn’t sit well with the junior from Sunny Hills.

“The other middle blockers were playing better and working harder than she was,” Banachowski said. “Marissa didn’t like sitting on the bench, so she started working harder. As a result, her play started to improve.”

And when it did, Banachowski put her back on the floor.

“We decided we were going to win it with our blocking and we thought we’d be a better team with Marissa and Lisa (Hudak) as our starting middle blockers,” Banachowski said.

Judging from the last month, he was on to something.

Since the 6-foot-1 Hatchett was reinstated as a starter, the Bruins (30-5) have won nine consecutive matches, all in straight games, to roll into Saturday night’s championship match.

And Hatchett is a lot happier.

“It’s been an up-and-down season,” she said. “It’s not really what I expected. After last season, I didn’t expect to not be starting and not be playing. It has definitely been my hardest year.

“It was just frustrating to deal with. But I just wanted to try to stay focused and try not to get down, just try to do my best when I got in there and work harder in practice.”

Which was exactly how Banachowski hoped she would respond.

“I think any real athlete doesn’t like to sit on the bench and they can figure out why they’re sitting on the bench,” he said. “That’s all the motivation you need to make them work hard.”

The result?

“She’s playing great,” Banachowski said. “She’s giving us the blocking and the aggressive hitting that we want from her. She’s been serving well. Her passes have been real steady and she’s come up with some great digs.

“She’s becoming as complete a player as we’d hoped she would be. She needs to just make sure she keeps pushing herself.”