Nov. 6, 2015
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - Junior setter Sophia Mar posted 32 assists and served up a career-high five aces while running an offense that hit .330 as UC Davis swept UC Santa Barbara, 25-19, 25-18, 25-14, in Big West Conference women's volleyball action at the Thunderdome Friday night.
The Aggies improve to 12-14 for the year and 7-5 in conference play. The Gauchos slip to 6-16 overall and 2-9 in league.
UC Davis' team average of .330 is the second-highest of the year, trailing only the .351 in its October 10 sweep of Cal State Fullerton. Senior Kaylin Squyres led the offense with 13 kills and a .379 average while junior Kendall Walbrecht added 10 kills with just one error for a .310 clip. Additionally, middle blockers Kelechi Ohiri and Aima Eichie each tallied five kills and four blocks. They committed no errors for a .385 combined success rate.
Furthermore, the Aggies only committed one hitting error in each of the second and third sets.
For UCSB, senior opposite Jaylen Villaneuva totaled 10 kills while Devin Joos added nine. However, the Gauchos managed just a .154 success rate, thanks to 10 team blocks and 61 total digs by the Aggies.
UC Davis won the opener more for its defense than its attack. Ohiri had all four of her block assists while freshman libero Malia Bolko picked up six of her team-high 15 digs in that set. Despite early deficits of 7-5 and 8-7, the Aggies took the lead when Nicola Moore's ace sparked a 4-1 run that forged an 11-9 lead. The Gauchos scored the next two to tie at 11-11 before junior Allie Wegener's back-to-back kills highlighted a 5-1 rally to put UC Davis ahead for good. UCSB pulled within one point on four different occasions, including a 19-18 margin. But Ohiri posted three stuffs down the stretch to help the Aggies pull away.
Mar's serving proved to be the game-breaker in the second set. The two teams fought to five ties until the UC Davis setter sent over three aces in a run of five unanswered, cracking an 11-11 tie into a 16-11 lead. Squyres, who hit 6-for-13 in the frame, delivered four aces down the final stretch to keep the Aggies ahead. As a team, UC Davis hit 15-1-39 (.359) in the second set to hold a 2-0 lead into the break.
The Aggies led wire-to-wire from its 4-0 start in the third. Mar's serving game again resulted in a 5-0 stretch that extended her team's lead to 13-3. Senior middle blocker Jillian Johnson also enjoyed a serving run that included a solo stuff and kill by Squyres, adjusting the scoreboard to 18-7. The front four of Squyres, Eichie, Ohiri and Walbrecht hit a combined 10-for-17 as UC Davis amassed a .520 average in the finale. Freshman Brianna Karsseboom also took the floor for the Aggies contributed two more kills.
Friday's win marks just the third time in 2015 that the Aggies held the favorable margin in kills (43-37), hitting average (.330-.154), aces (7-3), digs (61-50) and blocks (10-2). The previous times were against Princeton on Sept. 5 and UC Santa Barbara on Oct. 8.
The Aggies, holding fourth place in the Big West, return to action against third-place Cal Poly on Saturday at 4 p.m.
