GRAND FORKS, N.D. - Senior opposite Kendall Walbrecht and redshirt freshman libero Heather Reed were selected to the UND Classic all-tournament team following UC Davis women's volleyball's 3-0 sweeps of Omaha and host North Dakota at the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center Saturday. The Aggies rolled through the Mavericks by scores of 25-19, 25-11 and 25-18; then continued with three straight sets in the 25-23, 25-22, 25-18 nightcap win over the Fighting Hawks.

UC Davis improves to 2-1 for the season.

Walbrecht totaled 36 kills in 10 sets for the weekend, including 27 during Saturday's two wins. Reed posted 53 digs for a 5.30 per-set average during the tournament, while handling more than half (98 of 191) of the opponent's serves. Reed had 18 digs in the morning match with Omaha plus another 15 in the nightcap against UND. Sophomore Malia Bolko also came up big defensively against the tournament hosts with her match-high 17 digs.

Head coach Dan Conners cited his team's defense as a major asset in Saturday's victories. "We definitely are a scrappy team," he said. "We were intent on playing great defense. That's something we can hang our hats on: playing great defense and grinding out points."
Middle blockers Kelechi Ohiri and Aima Eichie went errorless as attackers in Saturday's evening win over the Hawks. Eichie hit 7-for-10 with a pair of blocks while Ohiri finished 5-0-11 with three more stuffs. Sophomore Emily Allen supported Walbrecht's offense with 12 kills and a .360 average.

UC Davis overcame as much as an 18-15 deficit late in the first set before exploding for an 8-2 run. Sophomore Brianna Karsseboom tallied three kills to boost the Aggies to an initial 10-7 lead, but two UND blocks helped chip away at that margin. Sophomore middle Jordan Vail put down a one set to push the Hawks to a 14-13 lead, then senior Chelsea Moser scored on a block and a slide attack to extend that edge to three. However, Allen recorded two kills, an ace, and a block assist with Ohiri to highlight the Aggie comeback run. Walbrecht had five kills in the opener, while Allen and Karsseboom added four each.

Eichie contributed two kills and a block with Walbrecht as part of a 7-2 run that allowed the Aggies to take a 13-8 advantage in the second set. UND later pulled back to within one on a few UC Davis hitting errors, but could not completely erase the deficit. Allen's shot near the left pin was blocked, but the ball fell just wide of the line. She then scored from the opposite end for her eighth kill of the match, extending the lead to 20-17. Then Eichie bombed a kill from mid-tape to finish a run of three straight, giving UC Davis all the breathing room it needed for the final stretch. A Hawk serve into the net gave the Aggies a 24-20 set point, then freshman Lauren Matias scored the set-winner by tooling freshman Ashley Brueggeman two points later.

UC Davis led nearly the whole way in the third set, save for the initial point. Walbrecht and Ohiri teamed up for a right-side block and each scored a kill during a 7-2 start. The Aggies never looked back, maintaining at least a four-point lead for the remainder of the match. Walbrecht continued to power UC Davis offensively, posting three more kills to help extend the lead from 9-5 to 17-8. A wild missed shot by UND and a solo stuff by Matias made it 20-10. Allen and Eichie combined for a block to establish a 24-14 match point, although Chelsea Moser kept her Hawks alive with two more kills before Eichie finally completed the sweep with her seventh kill of the match.

Overall, UC Davis hit .260 for the match, including better than .300 in each of the second and third sets.

"The difference between Friday and Saturday was the first-game jitters," said Conners. "We weren't crisp or aggressive [against Ole Miss]. We weren't attacking. Today, we came out aggressive in our serving and attacking. We weren't afraid of making mistakes, and if we did make them, they were mistakes of aggression."

UC Davis led wire to wire in each of the last two sets and nearly the entirety of the first during Saturday morning's sweep of Omaha. Walbrecht hit 12 kills with no errors for a .429 average, while matching Bolko with a pair of service aces. Karsseboom chipped in nine kills and three blocks. Reed (18), Allen (15), senior setter Sophia Mar (14) and sophomore setter Maddie Merlino (11) each broke double digits in digs.

The Aggies briefly fell to a 4-2 deficit in the opening set before Karsseboom responded with a block assist and two kills in a run of seven unanswered points. UC Davis never trailed for the remainder of the match after establishing that 9-4 edge. Karsseboom posted five kills in the first set while Reed tallied 11 digs and an ace. Oddly, the Aggies struggled offensively in an otherwise decisive frame, managing just two more kills (11) than errors (9) for a .049 average. But two team blocks and 26 total digs held the Mavericks to a minus-.047 success rate.

UC Davis continued to roll through the second and third sets. Allen had three kills and five digs, while Omaha stumbled to just five kills and a minus-.091 attack rate. The Aggies also converted 9 of 11 side outs, keeping their opponents from establishing any scoring runs. Walbrecht then exploded for 9-for-15 hitting in the third while Merlino picked up nine of her team's 26 digs. Walbrecht scored three kills and an ace in a 9-2 start to the stanza. Maverick senior Elise Brown helped bring her team to within a four-point, 11-7 deficit. However, Walbrecht's offense stretched the UC Davis lead to 15-8. Freshman Lauren Matias later notched back-to-back kills in a 5-0 Aggie run that extended the margin to 21-11.

For the weekend, the Aggies averaged better than 20 digs per set: 205 in 10 frames. The setting platoon of Mar and Merlino combined for 47, while Allen finished with 38 total for a 3.80 average.

Tourney champs Ole Miss finished with three players on the all-tournament team. Junior outside hitter Kate Gibson won MVP honors with teammates Nicole Purcell and Lexi Thompson joining her. North Dakota had outside hitters Chelsea Moser and Tamara Merseli on the honor roll, with Omaha represented by junior setter Sydney O'Shaughnessy.

UC Davis returns to action at the Oregon Classic next weekend, facing San Diego State and Murray State on Friday, then the host Ducks on Saturday.