Weekly Release No. 10

THIS WEEK
Friday, Nov. 6 - at UC Santa Barbara, 7 p.m. | Live Stats | Big West.TV
Saturday, Nov. 7 - at Cal Poly, 4 p.m. | Live Stats | Big West.TV

Please note: Saturday's Cal Poly match takes place at 4 p.m., not 7 p.m. as appeared in previous schedules.

NOTES
TO RECAP: UC DAVIS (11-14, 6-5) posted its second five-set win of the year, holding off a CSUN team that hit .500 in the fourth; then overcame a rocky first set to give second-place Long Beach State a four-set battle on Saturday... Thursday's win against the Matadors marked the first time since the Aug. 30 marathon with Baylor that four Aggies had double-figured kills: senior Kaylin Squyres had 15, freshman Nicola Moore hit 14, redshirt freshman Kelechi Ohiri and junior Kendall Walbrecht had 12 each... Moore and Ohiri each set career highs for kills... At the center of the attack is junior Sophia Mar, who tied her career high of 51 assists -- while posting new bests of six kills and 10 attacks of her own... Oddly, Thursday's match with CSUN marked the first time this season that UC Davis had a lower hitting average (.298 to .305) but still won the match.

Also on Thursday, Squyres tied her career high for digs while tying a 25-year-old school record for aces with eight... Only four other Aggies had ever notched seven in a match... Previous record-holder Kristi Zappen had eight in a 15-0, 15-0, 15-2 sweep at College of Notre Dame on Oct. 19, 1990, meaning 17.8 percent of UC Davis' points came on her service aces... Katelyn Astruc (10/25/05), Becky Olson (10/31/01) and Marritt Cafarchia (9/14/01) each served up seven in an era in which sets were played to 30 points; however, Astruc impressively did hers in a four-set match.... Squyres' eight raised her season average to 0.33 per set, vaulting her into a tie for second among Big West Conference leaders (see below).

STAT RANKINGS: Squyres still leads the Big West in total kills (406) and kills per set (4.37)... She now sits t2nd in aces (9.33) with Hawaii's McKenna Granato and 4th in total digs (336)... Freshman libero Malia Bolko ranks 2nd in total digs (378) and 3rd in digs per set (4.06)... Ohiri's 16-4-34 week moved her up one spot to 3rd in hitting average (.347)... Sophomore Aima Eichie remains 4th in blocks at 1.12 per set... As a team, UC Davis ranks 2nd in blocks (2.25) and leads the league in total aces (130), although mostly because the Aggies have played more sets (93) than any other team.

UP NEXT: The Aggies take to the road for the annual central coast series at UC Santa Barbara (Friday) and Cal Poly (Saturday)... Oddly, this is the first meeting with the Mustangs this season, as this year's Big West slate put the UC Davis-Cal Poly home-and-home series in the final four matches of the year... Both matches offer live stats via PrestoSports, while video streaming is available at BigWestTV as usual... Links are found above.

UC SANTA BARBARA (6-15, 2-8) has lost three straight, although mostly to the top half of the conference... Most recently, the Gauchos lost the region rivarly match to Cal Poly in four sets on Thursday... Junior MB Elizabeth Sheffield contributed on six of her team's 12 team blocks, while senior Jaylen Villanueva and freshman Devin Joos each tallied 12 kills on offense... Senior OH Ali Barbeau paces UCSB with 2.82 kps (220 total) freshman Emlia Petrachi ranks second in the conference with 4.53 digs per set... Aggie junior Kendall Walbrecht enjoyed one of her best matches of the year in the previous matchup: she hit 17-4-32 (.406) in the three-set sweep back on October 8.

Enjoying its best season since its 22-7 record in 2010, CAL POLY (16-5, 8-2) boasts the top candidate for Big West Conference Freshman of the Year in Adlee Van Winden, who averages 3.97 kills (306 total) and 2.43 digs (187 total) per frame... The OH from Napa, Calif. has won six Big West Freshman of the Week awards this year... Van Winden is the daughter of Kelly Van Winden, who coached against UC Davis while at the helm of Sonoma State in the 1990s... Leading the way in Thursday's win over UCSB was a pair of sophomores: MB Savannah Neimen hit 12-3-20 (.450) while OH Raeann Greisen led all hitters with 14 kills... Junior MB Taylor Gruenewald added 10 kills, a .348 average and four block assists.

HEAD COACH DAN CONNERS:
On switching from a 5-1 to 6-2: "It gives us a little bit bigger block on the right side and a different attacking dynamic with Kendall [Walbrecht] on the right and Emily [Allen] on the left. Emily is a smaller, faster player; Wally is higher and more of a power player. It switches up a matchup."

"There are definitely some individuals who are coming to play. We need a team, a group of people who are all putting it out there, all firing on all cylinders at all times. Right now, we're seeing individuals who are doing it, or we're seeing spurts from the team. Our key every weekend is to be consistent with our effort, energy and output."

"We want to continue to get better, to play consistently and at a higher level. I want the team to get to the level that we're capable of but to be there more often. We've seen glimpses and even long streaks of it, but we still haven't seen it for a full match. It seems to be in and out when team's are putting pressure on us. And we want to be more efficient in our hitting and our passing. With our hitting, we need to make less unforced errors. With our passing, we could do a better job at getting the ball to the net to run our offense."