Box Score FULLERTON, Calif. — UC Davis senior
Lauren Matias finished with a match-high 19 kills to become the 11th player in school history to reach 1,000 for a career, while sophomore
Josephine Ough added 12 more kills and hit .611 on the night, lifting the Aggies to a 3-0 (25-18, 25-14, 25-23) sweep of Cal State Fullerton on Friday night at Titan Gym.
Hitting .387 for the match, UC Davis improved to 15-12 overall and 7-7 in Big West Conference play, winning for the third time in the last four matches and clinching its third consecutive winning season.
Led by seven kills from Julia Crawford, the Titans fell to 11-13 overall and 3-10 in league play.
Needing only nine kills to reach the milestone entering the night, Matias went above and beyond to break into the exclusive club, finishing the night with 1,010 career kills to stand just four shy of
Emily Allen (2015-18) for 10th place on the all-time list with two matches remaining.
Matias hit .378 on the night, adding seven digs in the victory and collecting double-digit kills for the 11th straight contest — and the 21st time overall this year. Ough's 12 kills marked her sixth double-digit kill performance of the season while hitting better than .500 in a match for the seventh time this year.
Defensively, freshman
Shira Lahav finished with 13 digs for her team-high 16th double-digit dig performance of the year, while freshman
Perri Starkey added 10 more to tie her career high. Ough added three blocks to her Friday night stat line to lead the Aggies at the net, helping hold Fullerton to just .146 hitting on the night.
The Aggies ran away with the first two sets on the night to take an early lead before running into a Titan buzzsaw in a competitive third set. Neither team led by more than two in the early-going before a kill by Ough sparked a quick 3-0 burst that gave UC Davis a 14-10 advantage.
Fullerton bounced back to the the third set at 15 and, again, at 18-all — the latter part of a 5-0 run that gave the Titans their largest lead of the set at 20-18. The two teams then traded points down the stretch before the Aggies inched away, getting a kill by Ough and a hitting error by Fullerton to end the night.
UC Davis closes out its weekend on Saturday (Nov. 16) at 7 p.m., taking on UC Irvine at the Bren Events Center.
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 Times Higher Education, and among the top 15 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
Launched 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.
MARYA WELCH INITIATIVE
Named after the former physical education instructor, coach and Dean of Women who founded women's sports on the campus 25 years before the passage of Title IX, the Marya Welch Initiative for Women's Athletics provides comprehensive support for UC Davis' 16 women's athletics programs. Through the support of the Marya Welch Initiative and its group members, student-athletes are provided the best possible opportunity to succeed inside the classroom, and in competition, through special project gifts and by increasing visibility and participation at women's events throughout the year. All gifts to the Marya Welch Initiative are matched 1:1, doubling the impact on our women's programs. Visit https://give.ucdavis.edu/ATHG/324041 for more information.
