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By Sam Spiller
Arizona Daily Wildcat
October 21, 1996
A record for career kills may have been set by Barb Bell this weekend, but after being swept by the Washington schools the Arizona volleyball team is in jeopardy. UA has lost its last four matches and if the Wildcats fail to pick up some wins in the remaining nine matches, they will fail to qualify for the NCAA Tournament.The Wildcats (12-7 overall, 3-6 in the Pacific 10 Conference) lost Friday's match against Washington State (14-4 overall, 5-3 in the Pac-10) in Pullman, 15-12, 6-15, 7-15, 7-15. On Saturday they lost to Washington (17-3, 7-2 ) 15-8, 14-16, 7-15, 15-17.
Bell had 15 kills in the match against WSU, having only needed nine to break Terry Launcher's record of 1,637 kills. It was the 91st time in her career that Bell had at least 10 kills, and it was her 50th time in her last 51 matches. Bell, a Tucson native, has been a two-time member of the All-Pac-10 Team.
The Wildcats won their first game against the Cougars, but were unable to win a second. The WSU team, led by Sarah Silvernail's 24 kills, were a more consistent and offensively powerful team. They had a hitting percentage of .352 and 80 team kills. Four of their player had 10 or more kills - even the setter had nine.
The only place where Arizona outplayed the Cougars was in blocking. The Wildcats had seven total team blocks, 62 kills and a hitting percentage of .201. They were led by the all-around outstanding performance of Erin Aldrich. Aldrich had 15 kills, four digs and four blocks.
The match against the Huskies went similar to the match against WSU. The Wildcats won the first game, only to lose the last three. Washington showed the same powerful offense and consistency of Washington State, but they also blocked well. The Huskies were led by Angela Bransom's 28 kills.
Arizona was again led by Aldrich's 13 kills, eight digs and four blocks. Bell had 11 kills, three service aces, five digs and six blocks. The Wildcats had a solid .278 hitting percentage in their win in the first game, but plummeted in the later games with percentages of .074 and .098. Arizona managed to total 11 service aces and 10 team blocks.
The match against the Huskies was the eighth time in 11 contests that Arizona has faced a ranked opponent.
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