DAVIS, Calif. — The UC Davis women's volleyball team opened its own Aggie Invitational in dominating fashion, sweeping past both Montana and San Jose State by identical 3-0 scores on Friday at The Pavilion.
The Aggies opened 2-0 for the third consecutive year and the fourth time in the program's Division I history with the wins, winning their third straight season opener and setting up a winner-take-all match against Pacific on Saturday (Aug. 31) at 5 p.m. in the final contest of the weekend.
The Lady Griz and Spartans both finished the opening day of the season with 0-2 records.
In her first match since being diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma following the 2017 season, sophomore organizational studies major
Mahalia White was the star for UC Davis, tying the school's single-match hitting percentage mark with 13 kills in 16 swings without an error to hit .813 in the team's opener against Montana.
The performance equalled Kaersten Hill's mark set against Humboldt State in 1996, but did Hill one better as White did not commit a hitting error, while Hill had 14 kills on 16 swings with one error.
The mark was also the highest in the program's Division I history (minimum 12 kills), breaking
Lauren Matias' mark of .750 (13-1-16) against Nevada on Aug. 25 of last season. For the day, White finished with 20 kills on 28 attempts with only the one error, hitting .679 in the six sets.
Redshirt freshman
Demari Webb also had herself quite a Division I debut, slamming 11 kills on 19 swings and hitting .421 in the opener against the Lady Griz, adding five digs, and a pair of service aces, before collecting eight more kills in the nightcap and finishing the evening hitting .385 on the day.
Jane Seslar set a career high with 36 assists against Montana, averaging 10.00 assists per set for the day, while
Ally Reyes paced the defense, collecting 11 digs against the Lady Griz and finishing with 20 for the day.
UC Davis enjoyed a pair of stellar hitting performances on the day, hitting .443 against Montana in the opener while following up with a .362 hitting percentage and taking advantage of 19 Spartan service errors. Webb led the way against SJSU with four blocks, while
Josephine Ough and
Alexa Rockas added three more.
In other tournament action, Pacific jumped out quickly with wins in its first two sets against San Jose State en route to a 3-1 victory, getting 12 kills from Riley Ramsey and 11 more from Riley Patterson, while Patterson (12), Ramsey (11), and Kennedy Kaminsky (11), finished in double digits in a sweep of Montana.
Complete tournament information can be found online at
https://ucdavisaggies.com/sports/2019/8/12/2019-Aggie-Invitational.aspx.
UC Davis def. Montana 25-13, 25-17, 25-19
Montana (0-1) (Kills-aces-blocks) - Grimsrud, Janna 10-0-3; Semadeni, Catie 6-0-0; Horning, Kelly 5-1-0; Harper, Amethyst 4-1-2; Huddleston, Missy 4-0-1; Stites, Casey 1-0-2; Moreno, Sarina 0-1-0; Totals 30-3-5.0. (Assists) - Stites, Casey 22. (Dig leaders) - Harper, Amethyst 4; Garrido, Isabelle 3
UC Davis (1-0) (Kills-aces-blocks) - White, Mahalia 13-0-0; Webb, Demari 11-2-0; Matias, Lauren 9-1-1; Graves, Jackie 5-0-1; Rockas, Alexa 2-2-0; Seslar, Jane 1-2-0; Strehl, Leonie 1-0-0; Reyes, Ally 0-2-0; Totals 42-9-1.0. (Assists) - Seslar, Jane 36. (Dig leaders) - Reyes, Ally 11; Matias, Lauren 6
UC Davis def. San Jose State 25-18, 25-16, 25-16
San Jose State (0-2) (Kills-aces-blocks) - Nelson, Haylee 10-0-0; Grajeda, Thaliana 6-0-0; Schwarz, Tabea 5-1-0; Bettenay, Caitlin 5-1-0; Lousi, Latahevai 3-0-0; Thomison, Ryann 2-0-1; Tuinauvai, Taumafa 1-1-1; Totals 32-3-1.0. (Assists) - Garard, Mamie 18; Zdroik, Kaitlynn 11. (Dig leaders) - Smevog, Sarah 10; Schwarz, Tabea 6
UC Davis (2-0) (Kills-aces-blocks) - Webb, Demari 8-0-4; White, Mahalia 7-0-2; Ough, Josephine 6-0-3; Matias, Lauren 5-0-0; Rockas, Alexa 2-3-3; Seslar, Jane 2-4-1; Strehl, Leonie 1-0-0; Totals 31-7-6.5. (Assists) - Seslar, Jane 24. (Dig leaders) - Webb, Demari 9; Reyes, Ally 9
