Sept. 10, 2011
Boxscores: UC Davis 3, UTSA 0 | UC Davis 3, Missouri 1
DENVER, Colo. - Senior middle blocker Betsy Sedlak notched 17 kills en route to a .552 hitting average while sophomore setter Jenny Woolway distributed 48 assists among five primary hitters, helping UC Davis complete a four-set, 25-16, 21-25, 25-11, 25-19 upset of Missouri at the Pioneer Classic women's volleyball tournament at Denver's Hamilton Gymnasium Saturday. With the victory, the Aggies went 4-0 at the tournament, having swept Texas-San Antonio in three sets earlier in the day.
UC Davis moves to 10-1 for the season, having won five straight matches.
Sedlak committed just one error on 29 swings in her offensive effort while supplying four blocks on net defense. Woolway spread the offense to all parts of the tape to lead the Aggies to a .355 team hitting average: sophomore Allison Whitson recorded 15 kills on 39 attempts, senior middle blocker Katie Denny hit 11-2-21 and redshirt freshman Valerie Brain compiled an 11-2-22 attacking chart. A fifth pin hitter, sophomore Devon Damelio, added nine kills on 24 swings.
Mizzou, which falls to 10-2, were among the teams receiving votes in Monday's AVCA Coaches' Top 25. The Tigers went 22-11 and advanced to the round of 16 at last year's NCAA tournament, finishing 40th in the 2010 RPI rankings. Between Saturday's win over Mizzou and the September 3 win at Tulsa, UC Davis now has two victories against last year's NCAA tourney participants.
Brain and Damelio combined for eight kills on 15 swings in the Aggies' first set victory over Mizzou. The Tigers jumped out with four of the first five points, but three straight Damelio kills eroded that lead to a 5-4 Aggie edge. UC Davis later took a four-point lead when Katie Denny's kill and ace set the scoreboard at 14-10. The Aggies maintained at least that lead the rest of the way. Junior Kaitlyn Plum served up an ace to provide her team with a 24-16 set point, then assisted Jenny Woolway on a kill for the winner.
However, Mizzou rebounded in the next frame, seizing an 11-7 lead on a block by freshmen Katie O'Brien and Jade Hayes. The Aggies managed to close to within one point at 12-11, then tied the set at 15-15 and 20-10. But another Tiger freshman, 6-foot-3 middle blocker Whitney Little scored a solo stuff against the Aggies to ignite a four-point run, all but sealing the win and sending the teams to the break with a 1-1 tie.
The Aggies shifted momentum into their favor in the third and fourth sets, during which they hit a combined .484. Sedlak scored three kills and the Tigers committed three hitting errors to send UC Davis to a 10-4 start to the third. More timely hitting (combined with Mizzou errors) resulted in a run of five unanswered Aggie points, extending the lead to 17-6. UC Davis refused to let up, with Sedlak and Woolway posting back-to-back blocks to make it 21-8, then Denny's ace bumped the lead to its apex of 14.
Whitson then powered her way to nine kills and Sedlak hit 7-for-10 in the fourth frame. The Aggies rolled to a 10-4 start before Mizzou scraped back to a one-point deficit at 17-16. However, Whitson and Sedlak each delivered two more kills in a five-point rampage, turning a 19-18 battle into a 24-18 match point. Whitson fired in the winner two serves later.
In all, the Tigers hit .310, .280 and .323 in the first, second and fourth sets, respectively. However, they suffered 11 attack errors with just five kills for a minus-.231 average in the lopsided third frame.
In Saturday's morning action, Sedlak hit an errorless 11-for-15 with five total blocks while Brain contributed 7-1-16 attacking stats to lead UC Davis to a 25-23, 25-20, 25-15 sweep of UTSA.
The Aggies overcame an early deficit in the opening set, trailing the Roadrunners by an early 8-4 margin and later a 17-14 whole on Megan Wimbish's ace. UTSA senior Elise Huskey put down a kill and combined with Brittney Mallow on a block to maintain her team's lead at 20-17, but she committed three hitting errors in the next six points to allow UC Davis to take a 21-20 edge. Sedlak, who hit 5-for-6 in the first set, teamed with Whitson for a block assist then fired the game-winning kill two points later.
In contrast with their slow start in the first set, the Aggies dominated out of the gates in both the second and third frames. Whitson connected on two kills in a 9-1 run to lift UC Davis to a 14-6 lead, after which the `Runners never approached within closer than a five-point cushion. Whitson smashed three more kills in the final flourish to send the Aggies into the break with a 2-0 match lead.
Whitson served up 11 straight points in a third set, helping UC Davis break away from a 4-4 tie to a commanding 16-4 edge. Sedlak hit a perfect 4-for-4 and figured on three of the Aggies' five blocks in the finale. Brain chipped in 3-0-7 hitting and Damelio added three block assists to help UC Davis complete the sweep.
Sedlak, Whitson and libero Caroline Mercado each captured all-tournament honors, it was announced later in the evening. Sedlak amassed 39 kills and hit .396 for the weekend, while leading UC Davis with 14 blocks. Whitson posted 54 kills and 41 digs in 15 sets, while Mercado led the Aggies with 44 digs in the four matches.
The Aggies finally play their first contests in California during the upcoming week. UC Davis takes on Sacramento State on Tuesday evening, then hosts the four-team Aggie Invitational from Sept. 16-17.
