UCLA WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL: ALL-AMERICA SETTER SPICING UP BRUINS SPICER ONE OF THE MAIN REASONS UCLA IS NO. 5.

Byline: ERIK BOAL

Special to the Daily News

Classes at UCLA don't start for another week, but Nellie Spicer is already playing the role of professor.

Whether it's assessing the Bruins' performance during nonconference play, educating younger teammates on the rigors of the upcoming Pacific-10 Conference women's volleyball schedule or dissecting scouting reports on Arizona and Arizona State, the junior's attention to detail has put her at the head of the class when it comes to the nation's elite setters.

"Right now, I'd give us a 'B.' There's still room for improvement," Spicer said. "The chemistry we have is awesome. We enjoy coming to practice and seeing each other, and we're all on the same page and we're all working hard. We just need to keep moving forward and never slow down."

Ever since she arrived in Westwood following a stellar four-year career at Barrington High (Ill.), the 5-foot-10 Spicer has seldom taken a break, developing into the central figure in the Bruins' offense en route to earning All-America first-team honors.

"If you want to build a team around anybody, it is a setter, and we have the best in the country," UCLA coach Andy Banachowski said. "There's certainly a lot of talented setters out there, but we feel like we have the best one in Nellie."

But ask Spicer to evaluate her efforts for the fifth-ranked Bruins (10-1), and the junior seems reluctant to give herself a passing grade. Despite ranking among the top 25 nationally in assists per game and among UCLA's leaders in digs and blocks, Spicer still demands more of herself.

"(My defense) has been pretty good so far," Spicer said. "Blocking is another point I've been working on a lot. The coaches seem to be pretty happy so far, but I know I need to do better."

Spicer's critique comes after leading the Bruins to nine consecutive victories since an Aug. 25 loss to top-ranked Nebraska and receiving all- tournament recognition fourtimes, including MVP honors Sept. 8 at the UCIrvine/Nike Invitational.

"She knows she's good, but she wants to be the best," Banachowski said. "As a setter, defense is something you can take for granted or ignore, but she takes so much pride in making herself better in all aspects of the game.

"She's improved her digging so much. She's not our leading digger, but she's certainly up near the top. She puts a lot of effort and desire into it."

As the youngest child in a family of seven, Spicer has been used to putting in extra work to distinguish herself from not only her siblings, but her peers.

Spicer's passion and dedication resulted in her being honored with the Andi Collins award in 2004 as the nation's top high school senior setter, before competing for the U.S. Women's Junior National team in 2005 and receiving MVP accolades in May after leading UCLA to the title at the United States Volleyball Association's Adult Open Championships in Austin, Texas.

And with 3,582 assists in 79career matches, Spicer could move past Krystal McFarland (3,671) for fourth on UCLA's all-time list by week's end.

"She has always been the type of person that anything less than playing your best isn't acceptable," Barrington coach Karen Traub told PrepVolleyball.com. "And she has a feisty attitude that comes with being the youngest of seven. You can't let down because the older ones will walk all over you."

Following the graduation of All-Americans Nana Meriwether and Katie Carter, some critics expected UCLA to fall back in the pack in the Pac-10, which boasts six teams in this week's American Volleyball Coaches Association top-25 poll. And one of them isn't Arizona (10-2), which faces UCLA at 7 p.m. today at Pauley Pavilion in the conference opener for both teams.

But junior Ali Daley knew her setter wouldn't let that happen.

"We lost Nana and Katie, who were both very strong players, but we still have a great team," said Daley, who leads the Bruins with 128 kills. "Nellie is such a good setter because she's so smart and she works so well with the hitters. It doesn't matter who it is because she connects with all of us."

With the emergence of freshman Dicey McGraw and the consistent play of Rachell Johnson, Kaitlin Sather and Daley, Banachowski believes UCLA can again challenge for a conference title with Spicer orchestrating the Bruins' attack.

"She's suited for this offense because she's really good at moving the ball around and getting everybody involved," Banachowski said.

"There's a great comfort level that exists with the hitters and Nellie. She's our safety net when we have our moments of despair."

After watching Spicer the past two seasons, Pepperdine assistant Tim Jensen knows never to overlook the Bruins as long as Spicer is on the court.

"As long as they have No. 1 out there, I'm not going to count out UCLA," he said. "I wouldn't trade (Waves setter Kiah Fiers) for anyone, but Nellie is pretty special. She's an amazing talent."

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UCLA setter Nellie Spicer could move up to fourth on the Bruins' career assists list over the next few days.

Courtesy of UCLA