Sept. 17, 2010
Final Stats
DAVIS, Calif. - Outside hitters Allison Whitson and Morgan Borch each tallied 14 kills while back-row artists Kayla Varney and Kaitlyn Plum combined for 36 digs, helping UC Davis hang on to a four-set, 25-23, 25-19, 20-25, 25-22 victory over Oregon State in the final Day 1 match of the Aggie Invitational women's volleyball tournament Friday night.
The Aggies improve to 6-4 for the year. The Beavers dip to 6-7. The win represents UC Davis' first against a Pac-10 Conference member since taking down Washington State in five during the 2005 Aggie Invite.
In other tournament results, Cal Poly recovered from a 2-0 deficit to take a five-set win over OSU. Then Portland outlasted Nevada in four sets, getting 19 kills and .517 hitting from junior Kati Hronek.
Freshman setter Jenny Woolway engineered the Aggie offense with 51 assists, spreading 141 of her team's 150 swings evenly across five players. Whitson and Borch had 39 and 30 attempts, respectively. Senior opposite Melanie Adams hit 13 kills in 33 attacks, middle blocker Katie Denny recorded 10 kills in 21 attempts, and middle Betsy Sedlak hit 13-5-33 to supplement her three blocks.
For Oregon State, senior Jill Sawatzky led all hitters with 19 kills to go with five blocks. Sophomore Camille Saxton chipped in 11 kills and 13 digs, while senior middle Ashley Eneliko posted seven stuffs at the net. Eneliko had already tallied 10 in her team's previous match against Cal Poly.
Denny dominated an early run for UC Davis, serving up two aces and scooping up key digs against OSU's slugger Sawatzky, sparking six unanswered points toward an 11-4 run. As a team, the Aggies had 12 kills against just one error by the time Beavers head coach Taras Liskevych had called his second timeout. However, Oregon State gave chase down the stretch: Sawatzky tallied both of her first-set blocks to help her team narrow the UC Davis lead to just a single point. Denny's tool near the right pin closed the door on the opener.
UC Davis pulled to an 11-6 lead in the second set as Whitson hit a rocket through the OSU block then delivered an ace to complete a five-point push. But Sawatzky again helped the Beavers slash the deficit as she drilled two kills with a block assist to bring the Aggie lead to 14-13. A UC Davis hitting error later tied the frame at 18-18, but the Beavers never took the lead. Denny's tough serving forced a setting error and a hitting error during UC Davis' 4-0 finish.
However, Oregon State came out strong in the third set, scoring seven of the first 10 points. Varney and Plum picked up five spectacular digs in a 6-0 run, turning the 7-3 deficit to a 9-7 lead. But the Beavers rallied back behind two Megan McBride aces, pulling to a 10-9 lead. Sawatzky had six kills on 18 hitting attempts while freshman Mona Kressl hit a perfect 4-for-4 in the third set. Meanwhile, UC Davis struggled to a .189 efficiency rate after hitting better than .300 in the first two sets.
Behind strong offense by Sawatzky and Saxton, the Beavers appeared primed to send the match to five sets. The Aggies managed to tie the score on three occasions, only to see OSU score three straight to regain the edge. Then after back-to-back Denny kills evened the tally at 17-17, Borch tooled the Beaver net defense to give UC Davis its first lead. Denny later restored the lead when she slammed a one-set into the OSU midcourt, then followed with an ace, bringing the score to 20-19.
After McBride's kill tied the fourth stanza for a 10th time, UC Davis finished the victory with three straight points. Sedlak put down a kill into the Beavers' short court, then teamed with Adams on a block against the otherwise unstoppable Sawatzky. The Oregon State senior fired three shots from her left pin, only to have them neutralized by Varney's and Plum's floor defense. Sawatzky's fourth attempt was a cross-court shot to Plum, who sidestepped it and allowed it to sail beyond the Aggies' far sideline.
Varney had 11 of her 23 digs in that fourth set. She now has 50 thus far for the week, having registered a career-high 27 in Tuesday's battle with Sacramento State.
The Aggies return to action against Nevada at 11:30 to start Saturday's action, then fill face Portland in the tournament finale at 7 p.m.
