Oct. 29, 2015
DAVIS, Calif. - Freshman opposite Nicola Moore and redshirt freshman middle blocker Kelechi Ohiri posted career-high kills totals of 14 and 12, while senior outside hitter Kaylin Squyres tied a 25-year-old school record with eight aces, leading UC Davis to a five-set, 25-20, 26-28, 25-16, 15-25, 15-8 win over CSUN in Big West Conference women's volleyball action at the Pavilion Thursday night.
The Aggies improve to 11-13 for the season and 6-4 in league play. The Matadors fall to 5-16 overall and 4-5 in conference.
Squyres tallied 15 kills with just three errors for a .279 average to pace UC Davis offensively. More impressive, however, was her performance at the service line and on floor defense. Her eight total aces matches Kristi Zappen's program record set more than a quarter-century ago on October 19, 1990 at College of Notre Dame. Her 24 digs ties her previous personal best set at Omaha earlier this season.
Junior Kendall Walbrecht also managed 12 kills, giving UC Davis four hitters with double-digit offense. In fact, six players had double-figure attacks with four having 24 or more swings. Engineering that balanced offense was junior setter Sophia Mar, who hit 6-for-10 to go with her 51 assists -- yet another individual career high.
For CSUN, freshman Aeryn Owens and senior Cieana Stinson each had a match-high 21 kills. The Matadors hit .305 for the match, slightly ahead of their host's .298 clip. Senior Alia Casino led the CSUN floor defense with 20 digs.
Moore hit 5-for-7 while Ohiri and Walbrecht each added four kills to help UC Davis to a team average of .385 in its first-set win. Squyres served up back-to-back aces in a 5-0 run that propelled the Aggies to an 11-7 lead, but CSUN eventually fought back, equalizing on Rachel Diaz' right-side kill at 17-17. Ohiri later figured in three straight UC Davis points -- a block with Walbrecht, a kill on a 1-set, then inducing a net violation -- to lift her team to a 21-18 edge. Mar's ace then made it four straight points to a 22-18 lead. Walbrecht's serve found the baseline for another ace and set point, then Moore's blast completed the set win.
CSUN struck back early in the second, with Stinson pounding out five of her team's first seven points in a 7-4 start. Aeryn Owens later stretched the Matador edge to 11-5 on a successful tip and a solo stuff. The Aggies fought back to a 13-13 tie but did not take a lead until freshman Lauren Jackson's offspeed shot fell in to set the board at 20-19. UC Davis extended its lead to 23-20 and put itself in prime shape to take a 2-0 match lead before CSUN battled back to a 24-23 set point on a pair of Aggie hitting errors. The two teams fought to three ties before freshman Kristey Markle served up consecutive aces to finish the set.
UC Davis came out firing in the third, totaling 17 kills with just four errors en route to a .481 average and a nine-point win. Owens then scored four kills in a CSUN comeback run that equalized the set at 6-6. The Matadors briefly took a one-point lead when Rachel Diaz and Maddie Leiphardt teamed up for a block to make it 8-7, but freshman setter Maddie Merlino served two aces in a 5-1 Aggie stretch that garnered the lead for good. Moore had three more kills in a 7-1 span to extend the lead to 19-11. Walbrecht punched in a kill for set point, then Mar scored the game-winner when she returned a CSUN free ball for an unassisted kill. Sophomore Aima Eichie also sparked UC Davis in the third with a perfect 3-for-3 attacking chart off the bench.
As dominating as the Aggie attack was in the third, so was the Matadors' offense in the fourth. Owens hit 5-for-8 and Stinson tallied nine kills to help CSUN hit .500. Stinson scored three straight to craft an 10-4 advantage, redshirt freshman Nada Dragovic posted two more to extend the lead to 15-7, then Stinson came up with a solo block and another kill to forge a 21-13 edge. The Matadors led wire to wire in that fourth frame to force the rubber set.
For the finale, the Aggies switched to the 6-2 system they had run in the preseason. They fell into an initial 3-1 hole on a Casino service ace before Squyres caught fire on offense and at the service line. She hit back-to-back tools to flip the deficit into a 4-3 lead, then managed three straight aces to highlight a 5-0 run that put UC Davis out front, 9-5. Then it was Walbrecht's turn to put up points. Now playing on the right side in the Aggies' 6-2 offense, she teamed up with Ohiri for a block at 11-6, then scored the next three points for her team on kils. Squyres came up with three digs to lead to Walbrecht's successful tip to make it 12-6, then Walbrecht put down a five set to extend the margin to 13-6. Another tool by the 6-foot-3 junior put UC Davis at a 14-7 match point. Finally, Moore converted a side out for the match-winner as her right-side attack skipped off two sets of Matador hands before landing safely out of reach.
Thursday's win marks just the second time in six tries that UC Davis has prevailed in a five-set marathon. The previous intstance came against Georgia Tech in Nebraska's Ameritas Players Challenge back in early September. The 13 Aggie aces also marks a season high while their 70 kills represents a match best for the Big West season.
UC Davis returns to action on Saturday against Long Beach State. Match time is 7 p.m. from the Pavilion.
