LOS ANGELES - The MSU volleyball team fell to No. 3 seed UCLA in a five-game marathon, ending its season Sunday.
The second round 2000 Division I Women’s Volleyball Championship match lasted nearly three hours before the host Bruins won (7-15, 15-13, 16-14, 6-15, 9-15).
“They were stronger at the end,” MSU head coach Chuck Erbe said. “It was a very tough, hard-fought match that could have gone either way.”
MSU silenced a hostile crowd by storming to an early 5-0 lead in game one, but the Bruins battled back to capture a 6-7 lead. The Spartans tied the game at seven, then hit a wall.
UCLA won the game on an 8-0 run.
Senior middle hitter Sarah Gustin said playing in front of hostile crowds is something every player needs to be ready for.
“It didn’t affect me personally, but I think maybe some of the younger players were affected by some of the chants,” she said.
“The crowd was great for them. You’re always going to feed off of your own fans.”
Gustin finished the match with 16 kills and a team-high seven blocks in her final game as a Spartan.
Bruins junior outside hitter Kristee Porter was a one-person show in game one. Hitting .727 in the game, Porter tallied eight of UCLA’s 20 kills. She finished with a match-high 38 kills on .365 hitting.
Junior outside hitter Erin Hartley, who led MSU with 21 kills and 18 digs, said Porter is a phenomenal player. She said every team has a key player, but added UCLA had a total team effort.
“I thought she played great and everything, but I don’t think she’s their whole team,” Hartley said. “I thought every player on their team contributed to their win.”
UCLA hit .268 for the match and tallied 108 kills compared to MSU’s .216 and 84 kills.
The Bruins tallied the first point of game two, but the Spartans scored the next seven for a 7-1 lead.
UCLA battled back into the game, feeding off the crowd’s energy. The Bruins fought off two MSU point games before the Spartans won 15-13.
After the break, MSU started game three on a 2-0 run, completely silencing the crowd.
UCLA fought back to tie the game at five all. From there the Bruins put together a 6-0 run for their first lead (6-11) since game one.
With the Bruins in control at 7-13, MSU staged a comeback. A 7-0 run gave the Spartans a 14-13 lead and point game.
UCLA tied the game at 14 all, but MSU took a 2-1 lead in the match with a 16-14 game-three win.
“We did have a great effort on the part of everybody on our team,” Erbe said. “I’m very proud of my players.”
The Bruins came out strong in game four, taking a 0-4 lead. The early deficit prompted Erbe to call a timeout, but the delay did little to cool the Bruins as they put together a 2-8 run (2-10) before MSU was forced to burn another timeout.
The Spartans would rally, but the Bruins forced a game five with a 6-15 game four win.
UCLA head coach Andy Banachowski called the match one of the best he’s been involved in all season. He said both teams found themselves in a hitting war.
“That was certainly one of the most exciting finishes of the year,” he said. “We felt like we were dead out there. We just started to play with a whole lot more life and energy.”
In game five, continuous chants of “U-C-L-A” fired up the Bruins, Porter said. She said the crowd helped UCLA get back into the match after the Spartans had taken a 2-1 lead.
“To hear the crowd and know they supported us helped a lot,” she said. “We were a little nervous, but we calmed down and played our game.”
The Spartans scored first in game five and the score stayed tied up to four all. Then the Bruins pulled away to win the match with a 9-15 game five victory.
“It’s a very touch match to lose,” Erbe said. “When people say ‘good match,’ that’s like a consolation prize. That just doesn’t work.”
Eric McKinney can be reached at mckinn54@msu.edu.
