Bruins, Gauchos, 49ers Win Easily

UCLA swept aside Pepperdine, 15-9, 15-12, 17-15, on Thursday and advanced to the Central Regional final at University Park, Pa.

The victory avenged a Nov. 23 loss to the Waves (26-4) and set up a showdown tonight against No. 1 Penn State (33-1), which defeated No. 22 Minnesota, 15-9, 15-9, 17-15, in the other regional semifinal.

The No. 8-ranked Bruins had to rally from a 14-0 deficit in the third game. Pepperdine had two attempts to serve for the game, but UCLA scored its first point on a block by Elisabeth Bachman and scrapped for two more points before Kristee Porter stepped to the service line.

Porter led the Bruins to eight consecutive points in drawing her team to within 14-11. Pepperdine then had six opportunities to win the game before UCLA forged a 14-14 tie. After each team scored another point, Porter hit her 30th and 31st kills of the game, winning the match for UCLA.

“That was one of the greatest comebacks we’ve ever had at UCLA. . . . Kristee Porter took over the third game for us,” Bruin Coach Andy Banachowski said.

Erika Selsor had 70 assists and Ashley Bowles added 17 kills.

Pepperdine was led by Melissa Plass, who had 45 assists, Lisa Borom, who had 15 kills, and Melissa Snow, who had 14 kills.

Tonight’s match against the Nittany Lions will be the Bruins’ first appearance in a regional final since 1995, when UCLA lost to eventual national champion Nebraska.

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UC Santa Barbara advanced to the Pacific Regional final with a 15-5, 7-15, 15-8, 15-3 victory over Nebraska at Palo Alto.

The Gauchos (29-5) will play Stanford (29-2), which defeated Arizona, 6-15, 15-6, 15-7, 15-7, for a trip to the Final Four next week at Honolulu.

Santa Barbara was led by Charlene Conley, who had 15 kills, and Brooke Rundle, who had 42 assists.

“I think this was one of our best matches that we played,” Gaucho Coach Kathy Gregory said. “We won this game with our defense. Our seniors proved how valuable it was to have four-year players and to play hard.”

Nebraska Coach Terry Pettit thought his team was prepared for the match.

“I think the painful thing is that we probably had the best practices we’ve had all year,” he said. “More than losing, what’s most disappointing to us as a team was that our play just wasn’t very crisp, very sharp.”

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Long Beach State defeated Colorado State, 15-5, 15-13, 13-15, 15-10, in a Mountain Regional match at Honolulu. The 49ers (30-3) will play the winner of the Texas A&M-Hawaii; match tonight for a trip to the Final Four.

Keri Nishimoto had 62 assists for Long Beach and Cheryl Weaver had 21 kills.