Oct. 31, 2016

Weekly Release No. 11

LAST WEEK
Friday, Oct. 28 - at CSUN (W, 3-1)
Saturday, Oct. 29 - at Long Beach State (L, 0-3)

THIS WEEK
Thursday, Nov. 3 - UC SANTA BARBARA, 7 p.m. | StatBroadcast | Live Audio
Saturday, Nov. 5 - CAL POLY, 7 p.m. | StatBroadcast | Live Audio

NOTES
WEEK 10 RECAP: UC Davis (12-11, 5-5) split its road weekend, taking down CSUN in four sets on Friday before falling in straight sets to Long Beach State on Saturday... Senior MB Aima Eichie hit 10-3-20 (.350) with a career-high 10 blocks for her first career double-double in the victory against the Matadors... Freshman OH Lauren Matias added 15 kills and a .324 average, while senior OPP Kendall Walbrecht chipped in 11 kills and seven blocks... Sophomore OH Brianna Karsseboom posted 12 kills while Emily Allen's 9-1-28 hitting put her one shy of having five players in double-digit kills... In contrast, no Aggie had more than eight kills in Saturday's loss to the 49ers.

Saturday's match marked just the second time UC Davis has outblocked an opponent yet lost... The Aggies had 8.5 stuffs to 49ers' 7.0, with sophomore Kelechi Ohiri leading the way with five total... The previous instance was the Sept. 16 loss at Boise State, during which UC Davis had an 11-9 margin in that category... The Aggies are 8-2 when totaling more blocks, 10-3 with more kills, 9-4 with more digs... They are a perfect 11-0 when hitting for a higher average.. The only time UC Davis won with a lower rate was the five-set marathon vs. Southern Utah at Oregon: .181 to the Thunderbirds' .216.

The Aggies rank third in the Big West with 13.52 kills per set yet have no individuals in the top 10, a testament to the team's balance... Five players have at least 2.0 kps: Allen (3.19), Walbrecht (2.97), Matias (2.87), Karsseboom (2.21) and Eichie (2.11)... The No. 10 leader in the Big West is Cal State Fullerton's Madeline Schneider at 3.22... See RANKINGS below for more individual and team statistical standings within the conference.

RANKINGS: Ohiri remains at No. 2 among the Big West Conference blocks leaders at 1.29 per set, putting her between two Hawai'i players: Emily Maglio (1.38) and Nikki Taylor (1.25)... Libero Heather Reed still clings to second in digs at 4.39... She has missed the last six matches due to injury, but fellow libero Malia Bolko hits ninth at 3.53... Another injured player, MB Lauren Jackson, moved up to No. 3 in hitting percentage (.363)... Eichie was one of two players to fall below Jackson, moving to fifth at .350... As a team, UC Davis ranks 2nd in two related stats: digs (15.87) and opponent hitting (.207).

UP NEXT: UC Davis returns to the Pavilion for its penultimate homestand, hosting the Central Coast pair of UC Santa Barbara (Thursday) and Cal Poly (Saturday)... Thanks to an odd quirk in the Big West Conference scheduling, this means the Aggies will have faced the Gauchos twice before seeing the Mustangs for the first time in 2016... As is, UC Davis has already completed season series with CSUN, Cal State Fullerton and Long Beach State.

UC SANTA BARBARA (14-9, 5-5) swept Cal Poly in its only matchup for the weekend during a Friday battle of the two rivals... Setter Hannah Juley won Big West Freshman of the Week despite her team hitting lower than .200 (.198)... The Gauchos boast the arguable favorite for the league's Freshman of the Year in OH Lindsey Ruddins, who ranks second in the Big West with 4.07 kps... Also on the left side is junior Chanel Hoffman with her 3.15 kps, 2.32 dps and 20 aces... Senior MB Phoebe Grunt leads the conference with her .384 average while sophomore L Emilie Petrachi tops the Big West digs leaderboard at 4.62 dps... As a team, UCSB leads the conference with 1.65 aces per set... Fun fact: freshman OH Chloe Allen is the younger sister of Aggie sophomore Emily Allen... Chloe tied a career high of five kills in last weekend's match vs. Cal Poly.

CAL POLY (13-8, 6-4) came out on the losing end of Friday's Blue-Green rivalry match, marking its second straight loss after a previous streak of six wins to start October... Sophomore OH and last year's Freshman of the Year Adlee Van Winden leads the Mustangs with 3.64 kills per set... Right behind her is junior OH Raeann Greisen at 3.51... The two hitters rank fourth and sixth in the Big West, respectively, making Cal Poly one of two teams (along with CSUN) to boast two hitters in the top 10... The Mustangs lead the league in kills per set (14.12), just ahead of Hawai'i (14.01).

HEAD COACH DAN CONNERS QUOTES:
Against Long Beach State: "The challenges we had on Saturday weren't necessarily physical, although they do have a physical presence that can have an impact on the match. Our challenges came from the skills of passing and setting, which don't have to come from your physicality. That all affects your third contact and your attacking."

Against CSUN: "We did a nice job growing as the match went on. We progressed nicely throughout the match, and learned what they were trying to do to us. Then we made some good adjustments from a blocking and defensive standpoint to make it much more challenging for them to score. Offensively, we stayed pretty consistent throughout the match. Defensively, we grew as it went on, and their hitting percentage kept getting lower and lower."

On the upcoming weekend: "I think we need to get our mentality right. We need to battle and compete, work hard and be aggressive. And we need to keep that focus on our side of the net -- too often, we get too caught up in who the other team is and what they're doing. We're not playing our game. If we play as well as we do in practice, we'll be in good shape."

"Santa Barbara has some of the best pins in the conference. They have big hitters on the left and the right, and they have a really good middle who hits the ball hard. That's four really strong attackers. Then they're good physical blockers as well, plus they're leading the conference in aces. They put a lot of pressure on you to side out, and then offensively as well. We just have to find a way to not let their physicality and their talent affect us. Let's just play our game to the best of our ability."

"Offensively, Cal Poly is very good. They run a fast offense to their left side, and their setter does a good job distributing to all sides and all situations. She does a nice job at locating and with a fast tempo. So that puts a lot of pressure on teams to defend against them, then they grind out points defensively as well. They don't make a lot of offensive errors, so they make you earn your points."