Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 VERMILLION, S.D. — The Aggies' dynamic duo of senior Lauren Matias and sophomore Mahalia White combined for 42 kills on the day, but the UC Davis offense struggled to an .094 hitting percentage in its first two matches of the South Dakota Classic on Friday, falling to the host Coyotes, 3-0, and to Iowa, 3-1, at the Sanford Coyote Sports Center in Vermillion, S.D.

With the defeats, the Aggies fell to 5-4 overall on the season. Iowa, which defeated Wyoming in the opener, 3-1, improved to 5-2 overall, while South Dakota improved to 7-1 and faced the Cowgirls later Friday evening.

Sophomore Leonie Strehl finished with six blocks at the net for the Aggies, while senior Ally Reyes and freshman Shira Lahav added 21 and 19 digs, respectively to pace the defense, which had two other players finish with double-digit digs on the day: Matias (18) and setter Jane Seslar (17).

UC Davis concludes play at the South Dakota Classic on Saturday morning at 8:30 a.m. PT, taking on Wyoming in the tournament finale for both schools.

MATCH 1: South Dakota def. UC Davis, 26-24, 25-22, 25-17
Matias finished with a match-high 13 kills and hit .257 for the contest, but the Aggies could not muster any more offense as the host Coyotes swept past UC Davis in the tournament opener for both teams.

Senior Ally Reyes led the way for the Aggies with 12 digs on the day, while sophomore setting Jane Seslar added 25 assists and seven more digs. Both Alexa Rockas and Leonie Strehl added three blocks, while Rockas hit .364 (6-2-11) on the day.

In the opening game, UC Davis led by as many as four on a pair of occasions early before the two squads started to trade bursts, eventually ended up tied at 23. A service error by the Aggies gave South Dakota game point, but a kill by sophomore Mahalia White tied things back up, giving her team new life.

The Coyotes, however, ended the game quickly, posting back-to-back kills to take the first game, 26-24.

South Dakota opened game two by winning nine of the first 12 points and led by as many as seven at 18-11 midway through the period. The Aggies railed off four consecutive points behind clutch serving by Matias following a service error to make it a three-point game, and stayed within that margin for the next four points as the Coyotes inched away, leading 22-18.

UC Davis clawed back to within a point on a pair of Matias kills and an USD attack error, but the Coyotes got the ball back on an Aggie service error and scored three of the game's final four points to take the second game, 25-22.

In the third, a pair of early runs by both squads had the Aggies up 10-9 before South Dakota scored three straight — and seven of the next eight — to take the lead for good at 16-11. UC Davis fought its way back into the contest, trailing by only two at 19-17, but the Coyotes took advantage of five Aggie errors down the stretch, scoring the match's final five points en route to the 25-17 win.

South Dakota (7-1) had three players finish with double-digit kills, getting 11 apiece from both Elizabeth Loschen and Elizabeth Juhnke, as well as 10 more from Sami Slaughter. The Coyotes hit .317 for the match to just .168 for UC Davis

MATCH 2: Iowa def. UC Davis, 25-13, 18-25, 25-15, 25-12
Sophomore Mahalia White finished with a match-high 13 kills and sophomore setter Jane Seslar added her second double-double of the season with 29 assists and 10 digs, but Aggies fell to Iowa in four sets in the nightcap, 3-1.

For White, it was her fourth double-digit kill performance of the season, falling just one shot of her season high accomplished twice this season. Seslar added her second-highest dig total of the year, helping lead an active UC Davis defense that saw freshman Shira Lahav share match-high honors with 17 digs and Lauren Matias add 13 more.

Freshman Lana Radakovic made her Division I debut, collecting five kills and hitting .500 for the match, adding an ace, a block, and a pair of digs.

After dropping the first game, the Aggies bounced back in game two to take their first of the day, out-hitting the Hawkeyes .250-.200 for the game en route to the 25-18 win. UC Davis jumped out to the quick lead, scoring six of the first eight points in the game and closed the period with a kill by White and an ace off the hands of Matias for the 25-18 win.

Iowa then ran away with the final two games of the night, pulling away in the third game with an 8-3 run midway through the period, and scoring 11 of the first 15 points in the decisive game four before closing out the match on an 8-1 burst.

Iowa's Griere Hughes and Courtney Buzzerio finished with 11 kills, while Amiya Jones added 10 more, for the Hawkeyes, who also got 17 digs from Halle Johnston and a double-double (42 assists and 13 digs) from Gabrielle Orr.

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