Sept. 3, 2011
North Dakota State 3, UC Davis 1 | UC Davis 3, Tulsa 0
TULSA, Okla. - Sophomore setter Jenny Woolway earned tournament MVP honors, posting 44 assists and leading the UC Davis office to 55 kills and .266 hitting in a three-set upset of Tulsa in the final match of the Park Inn Hurricane Invitational women's volleyball tournament at the Reynolds Center Saturday. The Aggies swept the host Hurricanes by scores of 28-26, 26-24, 25-23 after falling to North Dakota State in a four-set, 26-24, 26-24, 22-25, 25-17 setback earlier in the day.
Junior outside hitter Allison Whitson and senior middle blocker Betsy Sedlak each earned spots on the all-tournament team. Furthermore, UC Davis was declared the tournament team winner by virtue of a tiebreaker.
The Aggies improve to 6-1 for the season. Tulsa, ranked 23rd in the preseason and among the teams receiving votes in Monday's AVCA poll, slips to 4-3. Both NDSU and Tulsa are defending champions of their respective conferences. The Bison won the 2010 Summit League title, while the Hurricanes posted a perfect 20-0 record in Conference USA matches last year.
The victory over Tulsa marks UC Davis' first win over a Top 25 or receiving votes team since October 2009, when the Aggies upset then-No. 23 UC Irvine in conference action at Hickey Gym.
Whitson, redshirt freshman Valerie Brain and sophomore Devon Damelio combined for 37 kills from the pins while seniors Betsy Sedlak and Katie Denny hit an aggregate 17-2-41 for a .366 hitting average from the middle of the tape in securing the three two-point wins over Tulsa. Junior libero Caroline Mercado registered a match-high 18 digs.
Against the Bison, Sedlak hit .381 with three block assists to pace UC Davis offensively. Defensively, four Aggies tallied double-figured digs: Woolway with 19, Mercado with 17, Whitson with 15 and Damelio with 15. North Dakota State junior Brynn Joki led all players with 22 kills in boosting her team to victory.
UC Davis and Tulsa clashed in a topsy-turvy first set during Saturday's finale, battling to 18 ties and six lead changes. Junior Tyler Henderson served up an ace to give the Hurricanes their largest lead of 15-12, but Whitson responded with back-to-back kills and Denny followed with an ace to knot the score at 15-15. A few points later, the tables turned as the Aggies claimed an 18-16 edge, only to see it diminish to a 20-19 deficit. After two more tie scores, UC Davis fought back from a 24-22 double set point. Sedlak powered the Aggies with two kills and a block assist in a 4-1 run to close out the set, giving UC Davis the match lead.
In the second set, the Aggies slipped behind by a 17-14 deficit before Woolway's second-contact kill sparked a rally back to an 18-18 tie. The Hurricanes again forged ahead to a three-point lead at 21-18, but three straight UC Davis kills equalized back to 21-21. Later in the stanza, with both teams locked at 23-23, Brain connected on three kills in the final four points to complete the Aggie comeback.
Despite the two-point final margin, UC Davis never trailed in the third-set victory. Mercado served up an ace to push the Aggies to a 19-15 edge and Denny notched a kill two points later to hold the margin at four, but Henderson and Diana Silva each scored kills to help Tulsa rally back to a 21-20 deficit. Whitson later slammed a pair of side-out kills to send UC Davis to a 23-21 lead, but the Hurricanes scored two to bring the set to its first tie at 23-23. Damelio and Brain each connected for kills down the stretch to seal the sweep.
Perhaps to Woolway's credit as a setter, the Aggies enjoyed offensive heroics from different players for each win over Tulsa. Whitson had six kills on 11 swings in the opener, Damelio hit 6-1-18 and Sedlak was 3-for-6 in the second, Brain hit 5-2-10 and Denny was an errorless 5-for-9 in the finale.
In each of the first two sets of Saturday morning's match, North Dakota State had to hold off late Aggie charges after establishing sizable early leads. Senior middle hitter Chrissy Knuth scored three kills and served up an ace to highlight a 15-7 Bison start, only to have timely UC Davis hitting whittle the edge to just a 22-21 deficit. Aggie middles Sedlak and Denny totaled six kills and a block during the comeback run. The Bison committed both a ball-handling error and a service error to allow UC Davis to tie the score at 23-23 and 24-24, but Lauren Cammack put down two straight kills to close out the first set.
In similar fashion, NDSU built a 12-7 lead out of the gates in the second frame and maintained a small cushion until Whitson's kill tied matters at 16-all. The Aggies held a 20-19 lead on Whitson/Denny block, then bumped the margin to two on Kaitlyn Plum's service ace. But the Bison scored three straight to reclaim the edge they would not relinquish, holding on to a second 26-24 set win. Damelio contributed 10 digs on floor defense, while Whitson recorded seven kills in the frame.
UC Davis again forged a comeback run late in the third. The Aggies slipped to an 18-14 deficit when Knuth served up back-to-back aces, then steepened their climb to a 20-15 whole on a kill by Cammack. However, Damelio's side out ignited a 6-1 run to give UC Davis a 22-21 lead. NDSU stumbled down the stretch both at the service line and at the tape, then Mercado provided an ace for the game-winner.
The Aggies slipped from .312 hitting in the third to just .024 in the fourth, committing four hitting errors to fall into a 9-5 hole. The Bison never trailed the rest of the way, scoring three straight to stretch their lead to 20-12. Knuth and Jennifer Lopez combined for a block to close out the match.
Sedlak finished with .360 hitting (23-5-50) and six blocks for the tournament. Whitson led the Aggies with 43 kills (3.31 average) and picked up 41 digs. Woolway earned 126 assists (11.4 per) and 34 digs in the four matches.
UC Davis continues tournament action in Denver at the Pioneer Classic from September 9-10.
