Aug. 29, 2009
UC Davis 3, Portland 0
UC Davis 3, Montana State 0
PULLMAN, Wash. - Junior right side hitter Melanie Adams knocked down 13 kills with five aces and a .423 hitting average to lead UC Davis to a 25-21, 25-18, 25-14 sweep of Montana State to conclude her team's action at the Washington State Nike Cougar Invitational women's volleyball tournament at Bohler Gymnasium Saturday afternoon.
The victory was the second of two 3-0 wins for the Aggies, who dispatched Portland 25-18, 25-19, 25-23 in Saturday morning's match. UC Davis moves to 2-1 for the season.
Adams was the only Aggie with double-figured offensive numbers in the nightcap. However, sophomore middle Katie Denny hit 9-1-15 with three blocks and senior setter Carson Lowden struck up 8-1-10 attacking stats to help UC Davis post a .327 team hitting average.
The Aggies and Bobcats battled to a 20-20 tie in the close opening set, but Adams and sophomore Betsy Sedlak each knocked down a pair of kills in a 5-1 finish to give UC Davis the match lead.
The second and third sets proved more decisive for the Aggies, which took a 17-8 lead in the middle frame and a 21-8 advantage in the finale. Adams served up all five of her aces in a 12-0 UC Davis run in the third set, while knocking down five kills in nine swings along the tape. Defensively, libero Avreeta Singh had eight of her 15 total digs in the third set.
In Saturday's early action, freshman Allison Whitson scored 12 kills while Sedlak posted seven of her team's 10 blocks to lead the Aggies to the three-set sweep of Portland.
UC Davis scored five straight points through the middle stages of the first set to pull away to a 15-7 lead, then Sedlak and Varney teamed up on consecutive stuffs to quell a minor Pilot comeback in the final stretch. Then in the second set, Singh and Adams helped serve the Aggies out of an 11-9 deficit to take a 19-15 lead. Whitson had four kills in that frame, including the winner.
The third set was the most closely contested, as both teams battled to 10 ties, including a 15-15 knot at the midway point. But Whitson hammered out back-to-back kills to push UC Davis to a 20-15 lead. UP managed to close the gap to a single point on three occasions after that point, but the Aggies never relinquished the lead. Denny's side-out kill completed the sweep on her team's fourth match point.
Lowden and Singh were later selected to the all-tournament team. Lowden had 109 assists in 10 frames as a setter, hit .435 (13-3-23) on offense and provided 25 digs and six blocks on defense.
Singh amassed 38 digs for the weekend, lifting her career total to 1,455. She surpasses Mary McClelland as the school's all-time leader in the category with virtually her entire senior season left to play.
UC Davis returns to tournament action in less than one week, opening against host Missouri State at the Mary Jo Wynn Invitational on Thursday.
ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
Carson Lowden, UC Davis
Jessica Clemens, Portland
Marissa Plummer, Portland
Renee Bordelon, WSU
Brittany Tillman, WSU
Jackie Albright, WSU
Libero - Avreeta Singh, UC Davis
MVP - Cassie Robbins, WSU
