Box Score Oct. 31, 2014 Final Stats
DAVIS, Calif. - Junior outside hitter
Kaylin Squyres tallied a match-high 24 kills while sophomore setter
Sophia Mar more than doubled her previous digs high with 17 pickups, leading UC Davis to a five-set, 20-25, 25-14, 25-21, 21-25, 15-10 victory over UC Santa Barbara in Big West Conference women's volleyball action at the Pavilion Friday night.
The Aggies sweep the season series with the Gauchos in improving to 11-11 overall and 6-3 in Big West play. The Gauchos slip to 9-11 for the year and 4-5 in conference.
Squyres, who missed her kills career high by just one, committed just eight attack errors in 56 swings to hit .286. She also posted 11 digs and had three blocks, including two solo stuffs. Mar has had eight digs in three previous matches, but had tied that mark by the end of the third set. Sophomore Allie Wegener provided 12 kills and four of UC Davis' nine aces. The middle blocker tandem of Katie Quinn and Aima Eichie combined for 13 kills and .400 hitting on 25 total attempts. Quinn's five assists led the Aggies in net defense.
For UCSB, four different players hit in double figures, with junior outside hitter Ali Barbeau leading the way with 15. Sophomore libero Ali Spindt scooped a match-high 20 digs. The two Gaucho opposites, juniors Britton Taylor and Jaylen Villanueva, posted attack averages of .318 and .310, respectively.
The Gauchos managed 19 kills in their first-set win, firing away to a 10-2 run to claim a 14-10 lead. Chanel Hoffman put down a pair of kills to extend that margin to 20-12, a net violation gave UCSB a 24-20 set point, then sophomore middle Allie Sullberg knocked down a 1-set for the winner. Squyres had six kills in the opener but collectively the Aggies hit just .114 in falling into a 1-0 match deficit.
UC Davis righted its attack in each of the second and third frames, hitting .407 and .581, respectively. The Aggie serving game paved the way to a wire-to-wire victory in that second, with Wegener, Quinn, Mar and senior libero Megan Lancaster each serving up aces. Wegner added four kills, including the set winner. Then in the third, the Aggies won an offensive slugfest that saw UCSB post a torrid .500. UC Davis took its lead at 8-7 when Erika Conners' setter dump fell into an empty spot on the court logo. The Aggies held at least a two-point lead for the remainder, moving ahead by as much as 20-15 after Wegener's ace. As she had in the second, Wegener delivered the winner for the third, tooling the Gaucho block and lifting her team to the 2-1 match lead.
Just as UC Davis' serving had dominated the second set, UCSB found its serving game clicking in the fourth. The Aggies went from that .581 in the third to .079, often hitting out of system. Wegener's third ace helped close the gap from a 17-14 deficit to a single tally at 17-16, but the Gauchos soon responded with four of the next five points in crafting a 21-17 edge. Barbeau smacked three kills down the final stretch to help force the rubber set.
The streaky fifth set saw UC Davis score three straight in taking an 8-5 lead, then surrendering three straight to tie at 8-8, then rattling five unanswered to climb to a 13-8 lead. Quinn and sophomore Kendall Walbrecht combined for back-to-back blocks to highlight the latter run, then Quinn took down the 14th and 15th points with her slide attack.
This is the third Big West matches that UC Davis has won in five sets, joining the Oct. 17 victory at Cal State Fullerton and last Friday's televised upset of CSUN.
The Aggies complete their home weekend with a 7 p.m. match against Cal Poly Saturday.
