NCAA VOLLEYBALL TOURNAMENT : BYU Women, in Stunning Upset, Eliminate UCLA

A new day has dawned in women’s volleyball in the West Region.

Fourth-ranked Brigham Young upset top-ranked UCLA, 16-14, 17-15, 15-11, in the NCAA West Region tournament final Saturday night before an estimated crowd of 800 at UCLA’s Wooden Center.

BYU advances to the NCAA final four for the first time in school history. Meanwhile, UCLA will miss the national semifinals for the first time since 1987.

After pulling out two close games, BYU dominated UCLA in the third. Gale Oborn, a freshman outside hitter from Diamond Bar, scored match point for the Cougars on a cross-court kill.

Oborn and Tumua Matu’u, a senior from Pago Pago, Samoa, had 18 kills each to lead BYU (29-2).

Annett Buckner, a junior outside hitter from Long Beach, had 17 kills to lead UCLA (30-2).

The Bruins, following a four-game victory over archrival Stanford on Friday night in the regional semifinals, continually found themselves trying to play catch-up with the Cougars.

“We didn’t play our best,” said Julie Bremner, UCLA’s All-American setter, “but maybe we played the best we could tonight.”

UCLA struggled at the middle blocker position, where Coach Andy Banachowski replaced 6-foot-3 starter Alyson Randick with 6-2 reserve Michelle Mauney in the second game.

“Maybe we’re a little small in the middle and maybe it finally caught up with us tonight,” Banachowski said.

For the Bruins, who won NCAA championships in 1984, 1990 and 1991, the loss ended a 36-match home winning streak. It also is the first time since a 1991 loss to Texas that UCLA has been swept in three games.

BYU will play Penn State (30-3), winner of the Mideast Region tournament, in the NCAA semifinals Thursday at Madison, Wis.