SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - UCLA defeated Pepperdine 3-1 (15-10, 15-12, 14-16, 15-9), in first round action of the NCAA Women's Volleyball Championship Tournament hosted at UC Santa Barbara's Thunderdome tonight.

Both teams had three players reach double figures as All-American candidate Kara Milling led UCLA with 19 kills and hit .351. Tanisha Larkin enjoyed one of her best outings of the year as she hit .419 with 16 kills and only three errors in 31 attempts and also assisted on four blocks. Tamika Johnson registered a career-high nine blocks, including three solo, and also added 12 kills. Setter Kim Coleman hit .778 as she put away seven of her nine attacks without an error and also provided 49 assists and assisted on four blocks. The Bruins hit .287 and posted 16 team blocks.

Pepperdine was held to a .116 hitting percentage and 10 team blocks, put served 12 aces to keep the Waves in the match. Nicole Sanderson's 19 kills and four aces led Pepperdine. Jamie Hill added 16 kills and six blocks (including three solo) while Kristen Lee totaled 15 kills and led the team with 12 digs.

Pepperdine scored the first four points of the match, but UCLA regrouped to reverse the advantage by scoring the next eight and held on to claim game one. Banachowski inserted walk-on freshman Kim Stainer to serve as the Bruins attempted to close the game for the third time. This was Stainer's first action of the season and it proved a successful move as UCLA scored to win game one 15- 10.

In game two, UCLA took the early lead by scoring the first four points. Pepperdine battled back and tied the score at nine all, before UCLA pulled ahead to stay. Banachowski again chose to bring Stainer in to serve for the match and it proved fruitful again as the Bruins claimed game two 15-12.

UCLA again scored the first four points of game three, but Pepperdine reeled off seven consecutive points behind the serving of Julie Hinsche that included two aces to take a 7-5 advantage. The teams traded sideouts, but Pepperdine continued to score unanswered points and opened up a 10-5 lead, before UCLA scored three consecutive and another unanswered point to close to 9-10. Pepperdine score the next two, followed by two for UCLA. The teams exchanged points on the others errors, then UCLA tied it at 13 all when Tamika Johnson drilled one of her 12 kills. On the next play, Johnson teamed with Larkin for a block which gave UCLA a 14-13 lead. Stainer entered to serve game point for the third time in the match, but sent the serve just long to give Pepperdine life. The Waves tied the score at 14 on another ace serve and the teams traded sideouts again, before Pepperdine got the break it needed when Milling sent an attack just long. The Waves capitalized on the game-point opportunity with an ace serve by Karen Benkovsky to claim game three 16-14 and extend the match.

In the decisive fourth game, UCLA scored first but Pepperdine came back and tied the score at five. UCLA scored the next four, before allowing another point. The closest the Waves would get from that point on was 7-9 as UCLA sealed the match with a 15-9 win.

The winner of tonight's match advances to face UC Santa Barbara in the second round to be played Sunday, Dec. 7 at 7 p.m. also in UCSB's Thunderdome. Sunday's winner will advance to Mountain Regional this coming weekend to face Texas at a site yet to be determined.