VOLLEYBALL : Bruins Have No Trouble in Victory

For the top-ranked UCLA women’s volleyball team, beating Washington on Friday night in the Bruins’ home opener was one more knot in a string of three-game victories.

The Bruins defeated the 20th-ranked Huskies, 15-5, 15-2, 15-5, before 1,386. Dating back to last season, UCLA has won 16 of its past 18 matches, three games to none.

“We think we can beat all our opponents, and if it takes longer, it takes longer,” UCLA Coach Andy Banachowski said.

In this case, it didn’t take long, and UCLA improved to 8-0, 3-0 in Pacific 10 Conference play.

Elaine Youngs led all players with 15 kills and five blocks. Youngs was the only Bruin starter on the court after Banachowski turned to his bench in the third game.

“Elaine was playing as aggressive as I’ve ever seen her play. She was going for it on every swing, and we wanted to reward that by keeping her out there,” Banachowski said.

After missing the 1990 season because of knee surgery and playing with a shoulder problem in 1991, Youngs is finally injury-free.

Natalie Williams, most valuable player in the NCAA tournaments of 1990 and 1991, had 10 kills, but she played only the first two games. Williams also had three service errors.

Washington (5-2, 2-1) was penalized because its jersey numbers did not contrast in color with its jerseys. The Huskies started each game one point behind.

UCLA took an 8-0 lead in the first game, before Washington went on a 4-1 run. UCLA allowed the Huskies one more point in game one, then broke out of a 2-2 tie in game two and never looked back.

Jenny Johnson, a freshman, had five kills to lead UCLA’s reserves in the third game.