Sept. 18, 2010
UC Davis 3, Nevada 0 | UC Davis 3, Portland 0
DAVIS, Calif. - Junior middle blocker Betsy Sedlak hit 6-for-13 in a three-set sweep of Nevada then followed it with an 11-for-15 night in a sweep of Portland, earning tournament MVP and leading UC Davis to a pair of wins on the second day of the Aggie Invitational women's volleyball tournament at the Pavilion Saturday night. The Aggies dispatched the Wolf Pack by scores of 25-10, 25-23, 25-12, then finished the night with a 25-16, 25-18, 25-20 victory over the Pilots.
UC Davis finishes its preseason tournament slate with a 7-4 overall record.
Sedlak did not commit a single error in either Saturday match. Joining her on the all-tournament roster was sophomore Allison Whitson, who posted 15 kills, a .520 hitting average, three aces and four blocks in the morning win over Nevada. Senior Kayla Varney captured Best Libero honors, totaling 28 digs and surrendering just one ace in Saturday's matches. Also on the all-tourney squad was Jill Sawatzky of Oregon State, Kati Hronek of Portland, and Kristina Graven and Catie Smith, both of Cal Poly.
Whitson's offense helped UC Davis compile a .360 efficiency rate in the morning sweep over Nevada. Sedlak and freshman Morgan Borch helped that cause with identical 6-0-13 offensive charts. Varney paced all floor peformers with 16 digs, while senior opposite Melanie Adams recorded four of her team's 11 aces.
UC Davis dominated the opening set against Nevada, blasting nine kills against just two errors for a .350 hitting average. Varney tallied five saves while Whitson and Adams each served up a pair of aces in a frame that lasted just 19 minutes. In contrast, the second set proved more hard-fought as neither team held more than a two-point edge. The Aggies picked up the win in somewhat unusual fashion. After setter Tatiana Santiago's tip gave the Wolf Pack a 23-22 lead, senior Lindsay Baldwin delivered a tough serve to Whitson in the back row. Whitson's pass flipped in front Varney, who attempted to steer a bump-pass toward the front row. Instead, the ball nosed over the tape and into Nevada territory for a kill, tying the frame at 23-23.
On the next point, Nevada's Kylie Harrington hit into the Aggie block but her team effectively covered. However, Sedlak was waiting for the second attempt. She supplied the solo stuff for a 24-23 set point. Sedlak and Adams teamed up for the winning block against Harrington.
The Aggies stormed to a 9-2 lead in the third, rallying behind two Whitson kills and two of Adams' four aces. Nevada tightened the lead to 9-6, capitalizing on two UC Davis hitting errors, but the Aggies scored 12 of the next 16 to take a commanding 18-10 advantage. Varney served up a 5-0 UC Davis run to finish the win, scoring two of her own on service aces.
In the nightcap victory, the Aggies enjoyed strong finishes in each of the first two sets to pull away from a scrappy Portland squad. After Pilot junior Marissa Plummer's ace brought the UC Davis lead to 18-14, Denny notched two kills and a block assist to help her team score seven of the final nine.
The Aggies carried the momentum into the second set as Varney chalked up three digs and Sedlak had two kills during a run of four unanswered to propel UC Davis to an 8-3 lead. The Pilots again battled in the late stages. Plummer hit two kills to shrink the Aggie edge to 18-15, then her short serve later forced an attack error to cut the margin to 19-18. However, Portland committed three attack errors -- one of which was on a block by Woolway and Denny -- to help UC Davis finish the frame on six straight points. The Aggies held a .407 hitting percentage through the first two frames, including a blistering .517 clip on 17 kills in the first.
UC Davis slipped behind by a 5-4 deficit to start the third frame as UP sophomore Ariel Usher landed a pair of early kills. Denny followed with three kills in a span of five points to give the Aggies the lead, then Borch posted two kills and a block assist to stretch the advantage to 13-10. The Pilots never erased the lead after that point, although a Madison Smith ace capped a 3-0 run to reduce to deficit to just 20-19. UC Davis head coach Jamie Holmes gathered her troops for a timeout, after which Borch slammed a four set across the Pilot midcourt then followed with a tool down the left sideline, pushing the Aggies out by three yet again. Borch smacked her 12th kill of the match to make it 23-20, and the Sedlak/Adams block shut the door on the UC Davis sweep.
Sedlak, already the conference's leader in hitting percentage, hit .500 for the tournament on 46 swings. Woolway averaged 12.7 assists per set as the Aggies' offensive engineer, while Whitson's 36 kills put her third behind Sawatzky (46) and Graven (39) among the tournament kills leaders.a
UC Davis begins its Big West Conference season at Pacific on Thursday.
All-Tournament
Allison Whitson, UC Davis
Kristina Graven, Cal Poly
Catie Smith, Cal Poly
Kati Hronek, Portland
Jill Sawatzky, Oregon State
Tournament MVP:
Betsy Sedlak, UC Davis
Best Libero:
Kayla Varney, UC Davis
