WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL : UCLA Sweeps Into Semifinals

After a one-year absence, the UCLA women’s volleyball team is returning to the NCAA final four.

The Bruins, who missed the semifinals last season after consecutive trips from 1988-1992, are headed to Austin, Tex., thanks to a 15-5, 15-7, 15-12 victory over Houston on Friday night in the South Regional final in front of 351 at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center.

UCLA (31-3) will face the winner of today’s Nebraska-Penn State match in Thursday’s semifinal.

“It’s great to be going to the final four this year,” Coach Andy Banachowski said. “I think this team really had a good year. They worked hard all year long.”

UCLA took control early in the match as it jumped to an 8-2 lead before cruising to the 15-5 victory in the first game.

Four Bruins got three or more kills, while Houston’s players looked tentative. Lilly Denoon-Chester, the Southwest Conference player of the year, managed only one kill. She picked up her play early in the second game, however, and sparked the Cougars (26-7) to a 6-1 lead.

But the Bruins picked up their defense at the net and shut Houston down. Led by seven kills from junior outside hitter Jenny Johnson, UCLA went on a 14-1 run to close out the game, and for all intents and purposes, the match.

“The second game was real crucial to the outcome of the match,” Banachowski said. “Houston jumped out to a big lead, and we were able to stop them from scoring any more points. I thought Jenny helped us in being steady in that drive.”

As they did on Thursday, the Bruins finished with a balanced offensive attack. Sophomore middle blocker Kim Krull led the team with 14 kills, followed by Johnson (13), senior outside hitters Annett Buckner (12) and Alyson Randick (10). Sophomore setter Kelly Flannigan had 45 assists.

“It makes it really easy when you don’t have necessarily just one hitter that’s so much better than everyone else,” Flannigan said. “When you can count on every hitter, it makes it really easy to run a diverse offense.”