Sept. 25, 2009
Final Stats
DAVIS, Calif. - Freshman outside hitter Allison Whitson tallied a match-high 19 kills, including three in the last five points of the fifth and final set, to lift UC Davis to a 25-20, 14-25, 25-17, 22-25, 15-9 victory over Cal State Northridge in Big West Conference women's volleyball action at Upper Hickey Gym Friday evening.
The Aggies improve to 11-5 for the season and open conference play at 2-0. The Matadors fall to 4-9 and open Big West action at 0-1.
Whitson led four UC Davis players with double-figured kills: juniors Kayla Varney and Melanie Adams each had 12 kills, while sophomore Betsy Sedlak posted 11-2-23 hitting for a .391 clip. Adams and senior setter Carson Lowden picked up 18 digs apiece, and sophomore middle Katie Denny served up three of her team's five aces.
For CSUN, senior outside hitter Angela Hupp recorded 18 kills, 14 digs, three blocks and an ace. She was particularly potent down the stretch, ripping 11 kills on 20 swings in the fourth and fifth sets combined. Junior middle Lynda Morales patrolled the net with nine blocks.
Denny served up a pair of aces as UC Davis scored six of seven points to pull away to a 16-9 lead in the first set. Matador senior Angela Hupp scored a kill to bring her team to within three-point deficits at 22-19 and 23-20, but Adams and Whitson finished the job to put the Aggies up 1-0 in the match scoring.
However, Northridge improved its offensive from a .161 rate to .290 in the second, while UC Davis plummeted from a .214 in the opener to a minus-.079 in the second. Early offense from junior Brittany Williams helped the Matadors craft an 8-3 lead, then middle blocker Tera Burnett served up a 4-0 run to help push the Matador lead to a formidable 20-12. Junior Lynda Morales tallied four block assists in the second frame, including two in the final four points, to help CSUN even the match.
The Aggies regained their offensive stride in the third, enjoying a 7-2 run to transform a three-point deficit into a 9-7 lead. Denny then tallied two block assists and a kill during a 6-0 stretch that ran the UC Davis lead to 16-10. The Matadors never cut that advantage to less than five. Sedlak's kill gave the Aggies a 24-16 set point, then a Whitson smash forced CSUN to pop a freeball over the tap. Sedlak tipped it back over for the winner.
Adams scored two kills in a span of six unanswered points to send UC Davis to a 12-9 lead in the fourth set, only to have that lead whittled away by key offensive plays by Hupp and Matador freshman Brittney Graff. CSUN took the lead for good at 21-19 on a pair of unforced Aggie errors, Hupp and Morales teamed up on a block to establish a 24-22 set point, then junior Janet Alvarado forced the fifth set with a kill.
UC Davis stayed afloat early in the fifth set on two Matador service errors and a hitting miscue, then seized an 8-5 lead at the changeover when Varney and Adams both found the deep corners of the CSUN court on back-to-back kills. Two more Matador attacks sailed deep and wide to swell the UC Davis lead to four points, then Whitson's late offense helped the Aggies finish the win. She scored her team's 12th, 13th and 14th points before Varney and Denny combined a block against Morales for the match.
The five-set victory serves as an encore for Thursday's upset of Pacific. The last time UC Davis opened 2-0 in conference was 1996, when the Aggies beat Chico State and Cal State Hayward (now known as Cal State East Bay) to start out 2-0 in the Northern California Athletic Conference.
UC Davis returns to action on October 2 in a conference road match at UC Riverside.
