Nov. 13, 2009
Final Stats
DAVIS, Calif. - Middle blockers Stacey Schmidt and Kasey Kipp combined for 22 kills and .450 hitting to lead UC Santa Barbara to a four-set, 25-19, 25-20, 21-25, 25-15 win over UC Davis in a Big West Conference women's volleyball match at Upper Hickey Gym Friday night. The match represented a battle of the two teams tied for second place in the league standings.
The Aggies fall to 18-10 overall and 9-5 in conference play. The Gauchos capture their 20th win, improving to 20-6 for the year and 10-4 in Big West matches.
Freshman Allison Whitson led UC Davis offensively with 15 kills. Redshirt freshman Kaitlyn Plum recorded a career-high 13 digs, including six in the second set. Senior libero Avreeta Singh nabbed 12 digs and served up three of her team's six aces.
For UCSB, Schmidt finished at 12-2-24 on the attack chart for a .417 average, while Kipp had 10 kills against two errors toward a .500 clip. As a team, the Gauchos combined for 13 blocks, eight of which came in the opening set. Schmidt and Kipp each had five stuffs. Junior outside hitter Charlene DeHoog led all players with 16 kills on offense. Remarkably, UCSB won Friday night's battle without its leading hitter, 6-foot-2 senior Rebecca Saraceno.
The Gaucho net defense played a substantial part of their first-set win. Schmidt had a solo block and assist to push UCSB to a run of five straight points, taking a 9-5 lead. Later in the frame, Kipp and DeHoog teamed up for back-to-back stuffs to extend the Gaucho lead to 14-8. Whitson scored a pair of kills to close the gap to three points, but the Aggies never approached any closer. UCSB setter Dana Vargas won a pair of jousts in the final points to provide her team with a 1-0 match lead.
UC Davis opened strong in the second, scoring eight unanswered to establish a 10-3 lead, but DeHoog landed two kills and teamed with Lily Lopez on a block to bring the tally to just a two-point deficit. The Aggies managed to hold that lead until 17-15, on Katie Denny and Carson Lowden's block. However, UCSB scored 10 of the final 13 points, aided by a strong serving run by freshman Leah Sully. DeHoog sent a kill down the line for a 24-20 set point, then Schmidt's tool was the winner that put the Gauchos up by two sets in the match scoring.
The two teams battled more closely in the third set, matching up for a total of 16 tie scores. With the tally at 19-19, Denny whipped a one-set into the open Gaucho court, then Whitson followed with a pair of cross-court kills to lift the Aggies to a 22-19 lead. UC Davis finished the frame on a 9-3 run, winning on a Gaucho service errors and two unforced hitting errors.
Lopez boosted UCSB with three early kills in the fourth set, then a Sully ace sent the lead to 9-3. The Gauchos never trailed the rest of the way, later scoring five straight points on the strength of three blocks. DeHoog scored six kills in the finale, while Lopez tallied five. On the other side of the net, UC Davis struggled to just eight kills offensively after having hit .233 in its third-set victory shortly before.
In all, the Gauchos out-killed their hosts by a 56-38 margin, and held the advantage in hitting percentage, .217 to .081.
UC Santa Barbara is among the teams receiving votes in Monday's AVCA Top 25 Coaches Poll.
The Aggies host Cal Poly in their home finale on Saturday. The team and coaching staff will honor seniors Lowden, Singh and outside hitter Tori Hooper as part of the festivities.
