No. 5 UCLA Defeats the Tribe, 3-0

09/08/07 5:00PM

IRVINE, Calif. - Squaring off against one of the nation’s top programs, the William and Mary volleyball team fell to No. 5 UCLA, 3-0 (30-13, 30-27, 30-24), on Saturday at the UC Irvine Invitational. W&M’s record now stands at 3-4 on the season, while the Bruins improve to 6-1.

Freshman Erin Skipper registered a team-high eight kills for the Tribe, while junior Molly Bohman had six put-aways on a .500 hitting percentage (6-0-12). Junior Jill Nowadly tallied a team-best 17 digs.

The College fell behind early in the first game and was unable to recover. UCLA held a 10-5 lead during the initial stages of the set, but it broke the contest open with a 13-1 run.

The second frame was much more tightly contested, however, as the set featured 12 ties. With the score knotted at 20, W&M utilized a pair of kills by Skipper and a put-away by sophomore Jillian Brown to take a three-point lead. However, the Bruins responded and scored three of the final four points to narrowly win the second game.

As was the case in the first set, the Tribe fell behind early in the third frame. Despite trailing by as many as 14 points, the College battled back with runs of 6-0 and 4-0 to cut the deficit to just four, 26-22. The Bruins hung on, though, and took the game and the match.

The Tribe will return to action later on Saturday night when it takes on UC Irvine at 7 p.m. (PT).

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