Weekly Release No. 4 | ESPN3 (Friday) 

THIS WEEK
Friday, Sept. 25 - at Long Beach State, 7 p.m.
Saturday, Sept. 26 - at CSUN, 7 p.m.

LAST WEEK
Tuesday, Sept. 15 - SACRAMENTO STATE (L, 0-3)

at Fresno State Classic Served By Deli Delicious
Friday, Sept. 18 - vs. Southern Utah (W, 3-0)
Friday, Sept. 18 - vs. Portland (L, 1-3)
Saturday, Sept. 19 - at Fresno State (L, 1-3)

NOTESTO RECAP: UC Davis (5-9) dropped its home opener to Causeway Classic rival Sacramento State on Tuesday, then went 1-2 at the Fresno State Classic tournament... The Aggies were relatively depleted by the time they faced the host Bulldogs, with OH Allie Wegener, MB Aima Eichie and MB Kelechi Ohiri on the sidelines... Senior Jillian Johnson and freshman Lauren Jackson assumed the roles in the middle, recording two kills and two blocks apiece.

The week did feature several individual highlights, perhaps most notably the play of junior OPP Kendall Walbrecht... She hit 12 kills in back-to-back matches against Portland and FSU to earn her first career all-tournament nod... Walbrecht's stats at the Fresno State Classic: 31 kills (3.10 per set), .307 average, 13 total blocks (1.30 bps)... Senior OH Kaylin Squyres averaged 4.50 kills and 5.00 digs during the tournament... The setting tandem of junior Sophia Mar (14) and freshman Maddie Merlino (career-high 15) combined for 29 digs against Portland – a credit to their floor defense although it also meant they had just 37 assist in the match.... In contrast, that pair had nine digs in the win against Southern Utah, enabling them to compile 37 of the team's 49 assists en route to a .254 hitting average.

The one area UC Davis struggled was on serve receive... Opponents served up 20 aces in 10 sets during the three losses last week (Southern Utah only managed two against)... In contrast, the Aggies allowed just 14 aces in 27 sets throughout the two-week, two-state road trip preceding this one... On the other hand, UC Davis' digging numbers were up: 16.77 per set in the last four matches after averaging 14.06 in the first nine.

MILESTONE WATCH: With 228 kills for the season, Kaylin Squyres raises her career total to 934... She needs just 66 to become the ninth player in school history to crack the 1,000 mark... Allison Whitson (1620 in 2009-12) and Devon Damelio (1,058 in 2010-13) are the only players to hit that milestone in the Division I era.

STAT RANKINGS: Squyres remains atop the Big West Conference leaders in total kills (228) while comfortably in second in kills per set (4.38)... Thanks to the 62 total digs in the last week, she also jumped into a tie at No. 4 with 3.87 per set, matching freshman teammate Malia Bolko... Eichie ranks fourth in blocks (1.21) while Wegener has the same rank among aces leaders (0.38)... As a team, UC Davis remains second in blocks (2.44) but slipped behind Cal Poly for third in points per set (16.9)

UP NEXT: The conference season now gets underway, with UC Davis opening with road matches at Long Beach State and CSUN... As a reminder, here is how the Big West teams were rated in the preseason coaches' poll back in early August: 1. Hawai'i, 2. Long Beach State, 3. UC Santa Barbara, 4. CSUN, 5. UC Davis, 6. UC Irvine, 7. Cal Poly, 8. UC Riverside and 9. Cal State Fullerton.

ON THE AIR: Friday's match at Long Beach State is the first of 11 Big West Conference dates (and two involving UC Davis) to air on ESPN3... Depending on their Internet providers, fans may tune into the match via http://espn.go.com/watchespn/ or the WatchESPN app... The Aggies' November 21 match at UC Irvine will also be televised on ESPN3... UC Davis played just one match on the virtual airwaves last season, but it was a doozy: a 3-2 upset of CSUN on October 24.

No. 25 LONG BEACH STATE jumped from the Others Receiving Votes section to the Top 25 thanks to a 2-1 weekend at its own LBSU Mizuno Invitational... The 49ers upset then-No. 21 San Diego, picked off a set from No. 14 UCLA, the swept Oregon State for the tournament finale... Junior OH and former German Junior National Team member Nele Barber totaled 42 kills and 40 digs to earn Big West Conference Player of the Week honors... She leads LBSU in kills (3.84) and digs (3.16) while sophomore MB Ashley Murray averages 2.93 kps with a .374 average.

CSUN (1-11) dropped its sixth, seventh and eighth consecutive matches with an 0-3 record at New Mexico's Lobo Invitational... Returning All-Big West first-team honoree Cieana Stinson recorded 14 kills with a .364 average to help the Matadors pick a set off host UNM on Friday, then totaled 20 kills in Saturday's doubleheader with LSU and LIU Brooklyn... She leads CSUN with 3.38 kps and a .226 clip while sophomore Katie Soto paces the floor defense with 3.90 digs per... The Matadors went 19-9 overall last season, but subsequently had 18 of those wins vacated due to an NCAA violation.