Sept. 11, 2009
Final Stats
RENO, Nev. - Junior right-side hitter Melanie Adams knocked down 16 kills for a .464 hitting average to lead UC Davis to a 25-20, 25-23, 23-25, 25-12 win over Nevada in Friday's nightcap at the Circus Circus Invitational, held at the Wolf Pack's Virginia Street Gym.
The win, which improves the Aggies' overall record to 6-2, is the first over the Wolf Pack since making the transition to Division I. The last UC Davis victory over Nevada was a five-set win in 1990.
Adams committed just three errors in 28 swings for the match to compile her lofty success rate. Fellow junior Kayla Varney added 13 kills and 10 digs, while sophomores Katie Denny and Betsy Sedlak and freshman Allison Whitson each had seven blocks.
For Nevada, Kylie Harrington recorded 18 kills while Lindsay Baldwin supplied five block assists, but those two players accounted for 21 of their team's 30 hitting errors. In all, the Aggies outhit their hosts by a .260-.112 margin in hitting average.
UC Davis overcame deficits of 12-8 and 18-15 in its first-set win, scoring 10 of the last 12 points to capture the match lead. Allison Whitson and Kayla Varney each recorded four kills from the left side to pace the Aggies offensively in that stanza.
In the second set, Katie Denny and Melanie Adams teamed up for a pair of blocks in an 8-3 UC Davis start, but Nevada managed to battle back, taking advantage of three straight Aggie hitting errors. Whitson, Adams and setter Carson Lowden each scored pairs of consecutive kills through the middle stages of the set, helping UC Davis maintain a slight margin for most of the action. The Wolf Pack briefly took a 23-22 lead on Kelly Chang's kill but quickly committed a service error and attacking error to allow UC Davis to bump its match lead to 2-0.
The Aggies stumbled in the third committing eight attacking errors after establishing an 11-9 lead midway through the frame. Three of those errors resulted in block assists by Nevada middle blocker Lindsay Baldwin, who later put down a kill to give her team a 23-22 footing. Janelle Batista hit the winner two points to cut the match deficit to a single set.
UC Davis regrouped in the fourth, scoring seven of the first 10 points then extended the lead to 15-7 behind Denny's back-to-back service aces. Lowden followed her second-contact kill by serving up four straight points, helped by a kill and block assist from Adams, expanding the Aggie lead to 21-10.
The Wolf Pack never recovered from the deficit as Adams supplied consecutive kills to establish a 24-11 match point. Two points later, Adams delivered again with a side-out kill.
UC Davis concludes action at the Circus Circus Invitational with matches against Portland State and Sam Houston State on Saturday.
