DAVIS, Calif. -- With a pair of road sweeps extending its win streak to seven matches, UC Davis women's volleyball returns to the Pavilion for its final two home contests of the year, hosting 17th-ranked Cal Poly (Thursday) followed by UC Santa Barbara (Saturday).
Who: Cal Poly at UC Davis
When: Thursday, November 8 • 7 p.m.
Where: The Pavilion (Davis, Calif.)
Live Stats: StatBroadcast (http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=225619)
Live Audio: Stretch Internet (https://portal.stretchinternet.com/ucd/portal.htm?eventId=484558&streamType=audio)
Live Video: Big West TV (http://bigwest.sidearmstreaming.com/watch/?Live=1351)
Who: UC Santa Barbara at UC Davis
When: Saturday, November 10 • 2 p.m.
Where: The Pavilion (Davis, Calif.)
Live Stats: StatBroadcast (http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=225620)
Live Video: Big West TV (http://bigwest.sidearmstreaming.com/watch/?Live=1352)
The Aggies out-killed Cal State Fullerton and UC Riverside by a combined 87-55 in two sets, holding their opponents to a .062 hitting average for the weekend. Senior opposite Nicola Moore (20 kills, .361) and senior outside hitter Emily Allen (18 kills, .280) led the attack, with Allen providing five service aces. Sophomore Paloma Bowman and senior Maddie Merlino shared the team's setting duties so efficiently that more than half of their sets (67 of 121) resulted in kills.
Saturday's matinée against UC Santa Barbara also provides a farewell for a class of six Aggie seniors, comprising Allen, Moore, Merlino, libero Malia Bolko, middle blocker Lauren Jackson and senior outside hitter Brianna Karsseboom. This group, which owns seven Big West Academic All-Conference awards among them, was profiled earlier this year in an August 29 featurette.
Allen heads into the weekend just eight kills shy of becoming the 10th UC Davis player to achieve 1,000 career kills, and 13 digs shy of becoming the 10th to reach a similar milestone for that category. Only three previous Aggies appear on both lists, with Kelly Gaudino (2000-03) remaining the last to do so. Allen has 14 double-doubles this year, with highs of 29 and 29 in front of her hometown crowd at UCSB on September 29. She has five career all-tournament nods, including MVP honors at the Santa Clara Invite this season.
Allen will also have the unusual opportunity of playing her Senior Day match against a sibling: her younger sister, Chloe, is an outside hitter for the Gauchos.
Bolko continues her march toward the school record for career digs, entering this weekend's action with 1,793 – 39 tie of surpassing Avreeta Singh (1,831 from 2006-09). She has nine matches of 20 or more this season, giving her 39 for her career. Impressively, Bolko has challenged Singh's record despite playing outside hitter during the 2016 preseason and missing three matches due to injury this year. Like Allen, she earned all-tournament distinction at three stops in 2018, and has seven career Big West Defensive Player of the Week awards.
Jackson has battled injuries throughout her Aggie career, but has stood as one of the program's more efficient hitters when on the court: she enters the weekend with a four-year hitting percentage of .290 (277-86-658). As a comparison, only three players in school history have compiled .300 career averages among those with 1,000 or more attacks. Jackson currently ranks seventh in the Big West Conference with 0.95 blocks per set.
Karsseboom ranks second on the team with 196 kills and 611 total attacks. She has eight matches with double-figure offense this season, including four double-doubles. Karsseboom arguably enjoyed her best performance of the year in the Aggies' October 25 win over Long Beach State, supplying 18 kills, 14 digs and a .349 average. Also among her career highlights are a tournament MVP award at the 2017 UNLV Invitational, and a season-best 15-kill performance to beat then-No. 17 Santa Clara in her sophomore year.
Merlino enters the upcoming weekend with 1,925 career assists, having spent most of her career as part of a 6-2 system with teammates Sophia Mar (2015-16) and Bowman (2017-2018). She also has come up with big defensive performances, including a career-high 21 digs in the September 8 road win at Santa Clara, and four blocks against Causeway rival Sacramento State just four days earlier. At the service line, Merlino has provided 19 aces with just six errors this year.
Moore appears on the roster as a junior, having sat out two straight years due to injury. She rated as a solid hitter and blocker on the right side as a freshman in 2015, averaging 1.59 kills and 0.63 blocks per set that year. Moore made her return debut in front of an almost-hometown crowd against Oregon State at Portland's Rose City Showdown this year, and since has enjoyed five matches with double-digit kills. She has been the team's No. 2 scorer (behind Allen) during the current seven-match win streak, hitting .335 with 76 kills (2.92 per set) with 19 blocks (0.73).
ABOUT THE OPPONENTS: The top two hitters in the Big West will visit the Pavilion this weekend in UCSB's Lindsey Ruddins (5.31 kills per set) and Cal Poly's Torrey Van Winden (5.08 kps)... Those two also rank second and fourth, respectively, among the national stat leaders... The Mustangs (21-2, 11-1) climbed as high as No. 11 in the AVCA Top 25 this year, thanks to an 18-match winning streak and the best start in program history... More recently, the Mustangs swept UC Irvine and UC Santa Barbara to remain atop the Big West standings... In addition to Van Winden's offense, sophomore Madilyn Mercer leads the Big West in blocks (1.12)... The Gauchos (14-10, 6-6) are fifth in the conference, but put a scare into their remaining schedule with a 3-0 sweep at Hawai'i back on October 28... Libero Emilia Petrachi leads the Big West in digs (4.85).
ABOUT UC DAVIS: Providing a small-town community feel while providing a world-class academic experience, UC Davis is home to more than 37,000 students and centrally located between San Francisco, Lake Tahoe, and the Napa Valley. The No. 5-ranked public university in the nation according to the Wall Street Journal, and among the top 10 public universities nationwide according to U.S. News and World Report, UC Davis offers nearly 100 graduate programs and more than 100 academic majors across four colleges and six professional schools, ranking among the world and nation's best in numerous disciplines, including veterinary science, agriculture, and plant and animal programs.
AGGIE EVO: Established in 2017-18, the Aggie EVO System is UC Davis Athletics' investment in the primary mission of preparing student-athletes for a successful "launch" after graduation. Thanks to a collaboration of alumni, university resources, corporate partners, coaches and Student-Athlete Outcomes staff, all Aggies are guided over four years to acquire the skills, knowledge, opportunities and tools to better know and navigate the "World of Work" after graduating from UC Davis. Follow the Aggie EVO system on Twitter and Instagram at @AggieEVO.
