Box Score Oct. 4, 2014 Final Stats
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - Junior
Kaylin Squyres posted match highs of 14 kills and five blocks while the Aggie net defense held the Gaucho attack to just .020 hitting as UC Davis swept UC Santa Barbara with scores of 25-21, 25-19, 25-16 in a Big West Conference women's volleyball match at the Thunderdome Saturday night.
The Aggies improve to 7-9 overall and 2-1 in conference play, sweeping their first Big West road weekend. The Gauchos suffer their first league setback, falling to 7-7 for the year and 2-1 in conference.
Squyres assisted on five of the team's eight blocks. Redshirt freshman Aima Eichie added six kills and a .444 success rate to go with her four stuffs. Senior Katie Quinn, who had 10 blocks the night before at Cal Poly, added another four on Saturday. Sophomore Kendall Walbrecht continued a solid weekend on the attack with an 8-2-16 hitting chart.
No Gaucho managed more than the six kills amassed by junior opposite Jaylen Villanueva. UCSB struggled to just 23 kills and 21 attacking errors (eight of which were the UC Davis blocks), while managing just one ace at the service line. In contrast, the Aggies carved up the Gaucho passing line with eight aces, half of which came from redshirt freshman setter Erika Conners.
The Aggies stormed back from a 17-12 deficit to take the first set. They had opened 4-0, surrendered eight straight to fall into an 8-4 hole, then battled back to within a single point on three separate occasions. Some attack miscues allowed UCSB to pad its lead to 17-12 before the offense settled down with a 7-1 stretch. Sophomore Allie Wegener posted three kills in that run, mostly in support of Conners' serving. Eichie and Squyres formed a block against Villanueva for set point, then a service error granted UC Davis that 25th tally.
A stretch of attack errors followed by a hot streak on offense again shaped the Aggies' second-set victory. Phoebe Grunt posted three blocks to help the Gauchos to an 11-6 start. Then after staring at a 14-9 deficit, UC Davis rattled off eight unanswered to forge ahead to a 17-14 lead. Squyres had three kills in a block assist during that comeback run, almost all of it with Wegener at the service line. The Gauchos could not close to gap to fewer than two, while Squyres posted three kills in the final seven points in sending the Aggies to the break with a 2-0 match lead.
In contrast to their rollercoaster first sets, the Aggies never trailed in the finale. The service line for each team propelled UC Davis to a 5-2 start before senior libero Megan Lancaster served up seven straight points to stretch the margin to 16-6. Walbrecht hit an errorless 4-for-7 while the Aggies posted six of their eight total blocks in this frame, completing the weekend sweep.
UC Davis returns home to host UC Riverside on Saturday. First serve is scheduled for 7 p.m. at the Pavilion.
