Box Score Oct. 24, 2014 Final Stats
NORTHRIDGE, Calif. - Junior outside hitter
Kaylin Squyres posted a match-high 22 kills while sophomore
Allie Wegener added 10 kills, 13 digs and four of her team's 15 aces in leading UC Davis to a five-set, 25-18, 21-25, 25-19, 19-25, 15-12 upset of CSUN in Big West Conference women's volleyball action at the Matadome Friday night.
The Aggies even their overall record at 10-10 and improve to 5-2, good for second place in the league standings. The Matadors, who ranked 19th in the RPI and had flirted with the Top 25 poll for much of the 2014 season, slip to 13-6 for the year and 4-3 in Big West play.
Squyres, the reigning conference Player of the Week, added 12 digs for her 12th double-double of the year. The 15 aces surpasses the previous season high of 10. Squyres and setter Erika Conners each accounted for three, while senior libero Megan Lancaster added two. Conners also hit 2-for-2 with 23 assists and 11 digs. Redshirt freshman middle blocker Aima Eichie added 4-1-9 hitting with a team-leading five blocks.
For CSUN, junior outside hitter Cieana Stinson tallied 21 kills with just four errors for a .333 average. Another junior left-sider, Danetta Boykin added another 17 kills on 40 swings. Senior middle blocker Casey Hinger chipped in 12 kills with five blocks but was held to .188 hitting -- well off the two-time All-American's season clip of .310 entering the match.
The Aggies served tough in the opener, piling up seven aces in their first-set victory despite .400 hitting from the Matadors. Conners and Wegener each served up aces in a 5-1 run that broke up an early 7-7 tie in the first set. Squyres put down three kills and teamed with Eichie for a block in a stretch that extended the UC Davis lead to 19-13, then Lancaster served both of her aces to stretch that edge to 22-13. Stinson helped CSUN challenge late in the frame but UC Davis held off the charge with three straight points to close out, including the team's seventh ace.
A 4-2 start for the Aggies in the second turned to an 11-8 deficit when two Hinger kills bookended an ace by senior opposite Natalie Allen. UC Davis later scored three straight to even the set at 17-17 before surrendering three straight to fall behind 20-17. Hinger's solo stuff put CSUN at a 24-18 set point before the Aggies fought off to within 24-21. CSUN finally scored that 25th point when UC Davis could not cover a right-side block.
Neither team surrendered much ground during the first half of the third set. The margin teetered back and forth between nine ties but did not exceed two points until the Aggies scored five straight to claim an 18-12 edge. Squyres had two aces and a kill in that run, while Stinson hit a wide shot with such force that the ball broke the LED panel on the scorer's table. Wegener hammered out two kills and her team's 13th ace to make it 23-16. Another attack error provided the Aggies with a 24-16 set point before Boykin hit a cross-court shot and a tool to help reduce the margin to 24-19. Squyres planted a four set into an open stretch of Matador court to close out the set and send UC Davis to a 2-1 match lead.
CSUN went on a 10-1 run to pull away from a tight 9-8 battle to a healthy 19-9 margin in the fourth. Allen and senior middle Sam Kaul had two blocks apiece while Hinger and Stinson each managed two kills in that run. Senior Valerie Brain finally ended the streak of eight straight CSUN points with her successful line shot at 19-10, igniting an Aggie comeback stretch. Libero Kelcie Randazzo, the victim of five of the UC Davis aces, sent a serve into the net while her teammates stumbled to three straight attacking errors to see the deficit halved to 21-16.
Allen tooled the Aggies' left-side block and setter Lauren Conati pushed down a free ball as the Matadors scored three straight to take a 24-16 set point. Squyres and junior Holland Seymour scored kills then Eichie and Kendall Walbrecht combined for a block in a 3-0 run that trimmed the spread to 24-19. CSUN called its second timeout before Hinger's tool ended UC Davis' comeback for the 25th point. The Aggies, which had hit .323 in the third, had just nine kills with nine errors for a .000 average in that fourth-set loss.
Stinson opened up the rubber set with her 19th and 20th kills. UC Davis eventually equalized at 5-5 on a Wegener kill, then took a 7-6 lead when Conners served up yet another ace. However, a pair of attacking errors and Hinger's drive through the UC Davis back row put the Mats up by 9-7. Unfazed, UC Davis responded by scoring seven of the next points, getting three kills from Squyres and an ace from junior middle blocker Jillian Johnson. A rare serving foot fault presented the 15th and final point to the Aggies.
This is the second conference upset of the year for UC Davis, which was tabbed at No. 7 in the preseason. The Aggies swept UC Santa Barbara two weeks prior.
UC Davis resumes its weekend at Long Beach State on Saturday night at 7 p.m.
