Nov. 21, 2009
Final Stats
STOCKTON, Calif. - Junior opposite Melanie Adams scored 12 kills and hit .400 while freshman Allison Whitson added 11 kills and a .476 success rate to lead UC Davis to a 25-22, 25-14, 25-15 sweep of Pacific in Big West Conference women's volleyball action at the Alex Spanos Center Saturday.
The victory propels the Aggies to a 20-10 final record, marking their first 20-win season since going 21-11 in 1996. Furthermore, UC Davis finishes the Big West Conference season at 11-5. The Tigers fall to 17-11 overall and 7-9 in conference matches.
Whitson committed just one attacking error in 21 swings while Adams had only two miscues in 25 attempts, helping UC Davis hit .367 for the match. Junior Kayla Varney added 11 kills and nine digs. Sophomore middle blockers Betsy Sedlak and Katie Denny each tallied five kills on 11 swings.
For the Tigers, junior outside hitter Svenja Engelhardt recorded 11 kills. Mallori Gibson, one of six Pacific seniors honored prior to the match, had eight kills with two aces.
UC Davis claimed the final edge in a first-set slugfest, hitting .393 to Pacific's .324. Adams hit five kills with just one error while Whitson was 4-for-6 in the opener, both sparking a strong 4-1 Aggie finish. Neither team surrendered much ground in the early going, battling to 13 ties in the frame. After a Svenja Engelhardt kill tied the set at 21-21, Adams scored the go-ahead kill and Whitson took advantage of a Pacific down ball to push UC Davis to a 23-21 lead. Whitson's tool established a 24-21 set point, then Adams and Denny combined on a block for the winner.
The Aggies enjoyed a more dominating second set, totalling five blocks to hold the Tigers to minus-.073 hitting. Adams and Varney each had two kills in a 7-1 UC Davis run to push the lead to 12-5, then a pair of Whitson kills later sent the Aggie lead to 19-11. Varney recorded back-to-back kills to send the score to a 24-14 set point, then Adams hit the game-winner from the right pin to send UC Davis to the break with a 2-0 match lead.
Whitson and Varney combined for five kills as UC Davis scored eight of the first 10 points in the third set, never to relinquish the lead. The Aggies slammed 21 kills against just errors in the final frame, converting 75 percent of their side outs.
Senior outside hitter Tori Hooper delivered a kill to provide the Aggies with a 24-15 match point, then Varney sent the winner from the back row to finish the sweep.
Hooper is one of three Aggie seniors playing in her final career match. Setter Carson Lowden had 39 assists, seven digs and two blocks; while libero Avreeta Singh picked up 12 digs. Lowden finishes third on UC Davis' all-time career assists leaderboard. Singh's 1,831 career digs established a new Aggie record.
With an 11-5 conference record, UC Davis will finish in a three-way tie for second place in the conference standings, joining UC Santa Barbara and the loser of the UC Irvine-Long Beach State match, which was in progress at the conclusion of Saturday's contest in Stockton.
