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  DAVE HILL/Daily Bruin Senior Staff Sophomore Lauren Fendrick and the Bruins take on Pacific in the NCAA Tournament. WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL UCLA @ NCAA Regionals Madison, Wisconsin UCLA vs. Pacific Friday, 4 p.m. www.uclabruins.com

By Andrew Borders

Daily Bruin Contributor

With its five-game victory Sunday night at Pauley Pavilion over the Michigan State Spartans, the No. 11 UCLA women’s volleyball team (22-7 overall) earned a trip to the NCAA regional semifinal. The Bruins face the Big West Champion No. 7 Pacific Tigers (26-3) in Madison, Wis., on Friday.

Though the Bruins and Tigers have a head-to-head record of 12-12, the current players have never faced off, as their last meeting was in 1994. The Bruins had won six of the last seven against the Tigers.

Pacific has not lost since Sept. 23, when they fell in four games to Big West foe UC Santa Barbara. UCSB and Long Beach State are the other two Big West teams left in the tournament.

In testimony to that conference’s volleyball prowess, only the Pac-10 (three) and the Big 10 (four) have as many teams left as the Big West.

Pacific coach John Dunning leads a team that has swept its first two tournament opponents, Oral Roberts and Texas A&M.

“We’ve won a lot lately, so we have some confidence. I think we play together really well.

“We have three people who started in the Final Four last year so I think they understand what it’s like to play at the end of the season like this,” Dunning said.

Conventional wisdom says the Bruins must play better than they did against unranked Michigan State if they are to knock off the No. 7 Tigers.

“It’s always good to see a little adversity before you play big games. I know we’re all focused and ready to play UOP,” sophomore outside hitter Lauren Fendrick said.

“We know it’s going to be a tough match. We’re all ready for that,” Fendrick added.

Though Pacific ranks a few notches higher than the Bruins in the latest poll, UCLA head coach Andy Banachowski knows that rank tells only so much about how two teams match up.

“If we stay aggressive and play aggressive, I don’t care what the ranking is, we can play with anybody,” Banachowski said. “We just have to play with some consistency and with total effort all the time.”

  EDWARD LIN UCLA outside hitter Kristee Porter sails above the net to smash the ball down in a match last weekend in the NCAA Tournament.

Fendrick also knows that volleyball matches aren’t decided on a coach’s ranking ballot.

“Rankings mean squat. I don’t look at the rankings. It shouldn’t even be a factor,” he said.

Though the Bruins rank first in the Pac-10 in assists, kills, and service aces, and third in hitting percentage, the Tigers rank no lower than third in the Big West in those categories.

There are several matchups to look out for. UCLA junior setter Erika Selsor, who grew up minutes from Pacific’s campus, matches up with Tiger senior setter Kara Gormsen, who led the Big West with 14.12 assists per game. Selsor averaged 14.51 per game.

Thousand Oaks native and Pacific junior outside hitter Courtney Miller takes up the serving battle with Fendrick. The Tiger attacker placed second in her conference with .46 service aces per game, compared with Fendrick’s conference-best .51.

UCLA junior outside hitter Kristee Porter, who placed fifth in the Pac-10 in digs with 3.32 per game, faces a trio of Tigers who rank in the top ten in the Big West in that category: Gormsen, senior middle blocker Danielle Shinn, and junior outside hitter Jamie Hamm, who led the conference with 4.42 per game.

Bruin senior middle blocker Elisabeth Bachman, who led the Pac-10 in blocks with 1.40 per game, faces Pacific middle blocker Jennifer Joines, who led the Big West with 1.62 per game.

In the kills category, Porter’s conference-best 5.95 per game compares with Pacific’s duo of Shinn and Joines, who notched a combined total of 8.14 per game.

In overall hitting percentage, the UCLA tandem of Bachman and Porter, who hit .357 and .307 respectively, battle the Pacific team of Joines and sophomore middle blocker Elaine Goeders, who placed first and third with their respective percentages of .413 and .353.

Dunning knows the level of opposition UCLA brings to the match.

“I think they played a really tough schedule. Their conference is very tough. It seems like the whole Pac-10 is good,” Dunning said.

“We know Liz Bachman and she’s been a good player for a really long time. We know about Kristee Porter. They just have a lot of weapons. They bring a lot of UCLA tradition with them. We’re going to have to get better to beat the Bruins,” he said.

It will be uphill from here for the Bruins, but Fendrick believes the team is up to the challenge.

“Hopefully we’ll start playing better and better as we go through the tournament,” she said.

Should the Bruins win, they will advance to Saturday’s Mideast Regional final against the winner of the Wisconsin/Kansas State game. The host No. 4 Wisconsin Badgers (28-3), champs of the Big Ten Conference, have lost only once since the end of September. All three of their losses have come to teams ranked no lower than 19 at the time of the game. The Badgers have lost only once on their home floor.

But playing on the road inspires no fear in the Bruins.

“We’ve been on the road, we’re a good road team,” Banachowski said. “We’ve been through it all. I don’t think that it’s going to hamper us.”

The No. 17 Kansas State Wildcats (20-8) upset second-round host Pepperdine and advanced to their first Sweet 16 appearance. The Wildcats and the Nebraska Cornhuskers are the only two teams left from the Big 12 Conference, which sent six teams to the tournament.

Rankings and records aside, Banachowski has great confidence in his Bruins.

“I think we all believe that if we play our best game, we can win it,” he said.

The Bruins can afford to make very few mistakes against the competition they face this weekend.