Nov. 14, 2009
Final Stats
DAVIS, Calif. - Junior right-side hitter Melanie Adams tallied a career-high 24 kills and served up four of her team's 11 aces to lead UC Davis to a five-set, 26-28, 28-26, 25-23, 22-25, 15-6 win over Cal Poly in a Big West Conference women's volleyball match at Upper Hickey Gym Saturday night in front of 635.
The Aggies improve to 19-10 for the season and 10-5 in conference matches. The Mustangs fall to 8-20 overall and 4-11 in Big West play.
Adams was one of three UC Davis players with double-digit kills. Freshman Allison Whitson notched 16 kills with six blocks, while sophomore Katie Denny hit 11-2-21 (.429) with three aces. Sophomore middle blocker Betsy Sedlak paced the Aggie net defense with nine blocks. Senior libero Avreeta Singh picked up 17 digs, while redshirt freshman Kaitlyn Plum added 13 to match a career best set Friday night against UC Santa Barbara.
For Cal Poly, middle blockers Dominique Olowolafe and Jennifer Keddy combined for 30 kills on 57 swings, while sophomore Catie Smith recorded a team-best 17 kills with 11 digs. Junior libero Alison Mort led all players with 19 digs.
The Mustangs narrowly escaped a first-set loss, coming back from a double set point of 24-22 by scoring six of the last eight points. After a Katie Denny kill tied the frame for an 18th time at 26-26, Mustang setter Anuhea Keanini sent a dump shot to the Aggie backcourt to establish a 27-26, then served up an ace for the next point. Olowolafe hit 6-for-8 to lead Cal Poly in the opener.
The two teams again battled for 18 ties in the second set, again reaching a 26-26 tie on a Denny kill. On that equalizing point, Denny's shot caught the Mustang block, then virtually rolled across the tape toward the sideline. Cal Poly committed back-to-back hitting errors, missing a shot long then wide, to send the win to its host. Denny hit 5-for-7 in the second frame, while Adams posted seven kills.
Olowolafe and Smith each scored a kill and block to help Cal Poly crack a 10-10 tie into a 13-10 lead. After UC Davis managed to fight back to a 13-13 tie, then later a 16-16 deadlock, Smith struck again. She tallied another kill and block assist to send the Mustangs back up by three to a 20-17 edge. Similarly, the Aggies battled back to a 21-20 lead behind Sedlak's two blocks. The two squads slugged away to three more tie scores before Whitson sent a shot just inside the Cal Poly baseline for a 24-23 set point, then Denny found the back right corner for the winner.
Keddy and Olowolafe teamed up for 10 kills in the Mustangs' fourth-set win to tie the match. Cal Poly crafted a 10-7 early lead before UC Davis reclaimed the momentum toward a 16-14 kill on Adams' 20th kill of the match. Adams later lifted the Aggies to a 19-18 lead, but that proved to be the last chance to end the match in four: Olowolafe slammed three kills down the stretch as Cal Poly took seven of the final 10 points to tie the match.
However, the fifth set stood in contrast to the nip-and-tuck battles of the four preceding games. As a team, UC Davis hit .615 on nine kills and just one error to dominate the rubber set. Whitson tooled the Mustangs' net defense for back-to-back kills to push the Aggies out to a 7-3 lead, then Denny scored a pair of kills and two aces to stretch that edge to 13-5. Varney set up match point on an unlikely point, tipping in an errant serve receive into the Cal Poly court. A Mustang hitting error completed the win for UC Davis, which improves to 5-1 in five-set matches.
Saturday's match also served as an opportunity to honor three seniors playing in their final home contests. UC Davis head coach Jamie Holmes made sure Singh, Lowden and outside hitter Tori Hooper were on the floor together for the first and last points of the match.
The Aggies finish their 2009 regular season at Pacific on Saturday, November 21.
UC DAVIS 3, CAL POLY 2
(26-28, 28-26, 25-23, 22-25, 15-6)
CP (kills-aces-blocks) - Catie Smith 17-1-2, Dominique Olowolafe 16-0-3, Jennifer Keddy 14-0-5, Molly Pon 10-0-2, Chelsea Hardin 7-0-2, Anuhea Keaninin 1-1-2, Lauren Law 1-0-0, Anicia Santos 1-0-0, Holly Franks 1-0-0, Allison Mort 0-1-0. Totals 68-3-8.0. Assists leader - Anuhea Keanini 63. Digs leader - Alison Mort 19.
UC DAVIS (kills-aces-blocks ) - Melanie Adams 24-4-4, Allison Whitson 16-0-6, Katie Denny 11-3-3, Betsy Sedlak 8-0-9, Kayla Varney 6-1-0, Carson Lowden 3-0-2, Tori Hooper 0-0-1, Avreeta Singh 0-2-0, Kaitlyn Plum 0-0-0, Lindsay Dowd 0-0-0. Totals 68-11-14.0. Assists leader - Carson Lowden 62. Digs leaders - Avreeta Singh 17, Kayla Varney 16, Kaitlyn Plum 13.
Attendance: 635
