Oct. 2, 2010
Final Stats
DAVIS, Calif. - Senior opposite Melanie Adams had 11 kills and a .370 hitting average while freshman setter Jenny Woolway led all players with 19 digs, boosting UC Davis to a 29-27, 25-17, 25-17 sweep of UC Irvine in a Big West Conference women's volleyball match at the Pavilion Saturday night.
The Aggies improve to 12-4 for the season and 4-0 in conference play. The Anteaters dip to 4-12 overall and remain winless at 0-4 in Big West matches.
Besides Adams and Woolway, sophomore outside hitter Allison Whitson provided a team-high 12 kills. Junior middle blocker Katie Denny hit nine kills against two errors, while contributing on five of UC Davis' nine team blocks. Fellow middle Betsy Sedlak provided 8-2-17 on offense with four bocks on defense. Senior libero Kayla Varney chipped in 16 digs.
For UC Irvine, senior outside hitter Juliane Piggott posted 13 kills against just one error for a .353 success rate. She joined senior Kari Pestolesi and libero Kristin Winkler with 10 digs apiece.
The first set progressed into a battle of two of the conference's digs leaders, with Varney scooping up 11 digs and Pestolesi posting 10. The Anteaters led by as much as 20-16, then later fought off an Aggie comeback to hold a 23-20 edge. But Adams and Denny each had a kill and a block assist to tie the frame at 23-23. The two teams clashed for four more set points before Piggott's off-tape, off-balance shot fell into open UC Davis territory for the 27-27 equalizer. However, UC Davis caught a break when the 'Eaters incurred a back-row attack violation. Woolway went to the service line, and Adams scored her sixth kill down the right sideline for the winner.
The Aggies won the second set in more convincing fashion, with Sedlak tallying three kills and a block during an 8-2 run that put her team ahead by an 18-10 margin. UCI never closed the gap by less than six, and Denny and Morgan Borch put down tools for UC Davis' final two points. Sedlak was 4-for-6 offensively in the second set, while Woolway picked up five digs.
Allison Whitson tallied six kills in the final set, helping the Aggies break loose from a 9-9 tie. After Adams and Sedlak combined for a pair of kills and a block, Whitson's toll completed a run of four unanswered points. Later in the frame, she hit back-to-back kills, the second of which sent Adams to the service line for three straight. The Anteaters never challenged the rest of the way, hitting just .192 to UC Davis' .417 efficiency rate in the finale.
Around the league, Cal State Fullerton posted a 3-0 win over UC Santa Barbara, leaving UC Davis as the only 4-0 team in the Big West Conference.
