Bruins take a bite out of the Huskies

With the Washington volleyball team going into its match up against No. 3 UCLA, coach Jim McLaughlin said he expected a dog-fight at Pauley Pavilion in Los Angeles. The showdown between these two top teams lived up to the hype. After more than two and a half hours and five games, the Bruins ended up being the team with the bigger bite. [HTML_REMOVED]

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"The Bruins are legit; they are a good solid team at every position," McLaughlin said. "In the end they made the little plays when it counted, and we beat them in most of the statistics but they beat us in the match and that's all that counts." [HTML_REMOVED]

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The Bruins came back to win the match 5-3 after being down 2-0 early.[HTML_REMOVED]

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The momentum shifted often in this rock "em, sock "em brawl filled with long rallies and hard hits. The match also put both of the teams' strengths and weaknesses on display.[HTML_REMOVED]

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"We played well, but we still have things to learn and we need to improve ourselves so that we can win in a tough environment like the one we played in tonight," McLaughlin said. [HTML_REMOVED]

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Trailing 26-23 in the first game, the UW found its bearings and came back to win 30-27, handing UCLA its first game loss of the season. The Huskies carried that momentum into the second game where they dominated offensively and won with a score of 30-23, thanks in large part to a hitting percentage of .351. [HTML_REMOVED]

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UCLA coach Andy Banachowski adjusted the Bruins' game plan effectively coming out of the 10-minute break, sending the Bruins to an easy 30-21 victory in the third game. The loss ended the Huskies' 35-game winning streak which began in late August. [HTML_REMOVED]

The match went the distance to a fifth game after a dramatic fourth frame in which the Huskies came back from being down 29-21 to force 10 straight game points and then narrowly lost 31-29.[HTML_REMOVED]

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In game five, UCLA jumped to a quick 6-1 lead and Washington continued to fight hard and narrowed the score to one point at 12-11. The Bruins then made two in a row bringing the score to 14-11. The Huskies fought hard and forced three game points before narrowly losing 15-13.[HTML_REMOVED]

"The margin of error is just so thin, it's a little teeny play here and there; they made a couple of those plays and we didn't and that was it," McLaughlin said. "To give the Bruins some credit, they played awfully tough, they turned and they played very good volleyball and I think they served better than we did in the end."[HTML_REMOVED]

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Bruins senior Katie Carter led the team down the stretch with 23 kills for a hitting percentage of .321. [HTML_REMOVED]

Red-shirt junior Stevie Mussie had a strong game for the Huskies, which included a career-high 23 kills as well as 11 digs. [HTML_REMOVED]

Although she is usually the most powerful player on the court, junior Christal Morrison had hit well with 20 kills, but struggled from the service line with six service errors. [HTML_REMOVED]

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"We've just got to forget about it and move on to [USC]," McLaughlin said. "We're good but we're not good enough for long periods of time. There are times when we just show that we can really play and play at a high level and, of course, we have got to learn to do that." [HTML_REMOVED]

Tomorrow night Washington faces the fifth-ranked Trojans in another important Pac-10 game. [HTML_REMOVED]

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