NORTHRIDGE, Calif. – Freshman Jade Light and redshirt junior Demari Webb collected career nights with 22 kills and 20 kills, respectively, but the UC Davis women's volleyball team could not pull off the reverse sweep, falling to CSUN in a five-set thriller Friday night at Premier America Credit Union Arena.
 
"I was definitely proud of their willingness to fight despite being down two sets," head coach Dan Conners said. "They really came together as a group to fight for each other. I thought they did a great job at that."
 
The Aggies drop their third straight conference game, falling to 3-4 in Big West play and 8-9 overall on the season. The Matadors picked up their second conference win of the season, improving to 2-5 in conference action and 7-12 overall on the year.
 
Light put together the best night of her first-year campaign, notching her first career double-double on a team-high 22 kills and 23 digs along with a pair of service aces. Webb finished behind Light with a career-high 20 kills, followed by junior Lana Radakovic with 11 kills. Sophomore Alexa Hogan also put up a career-high nine kills.
 
"They got a lot of opportunities," Conners said. "I liked that we were aggressive taking smart swings. They were doing some great things."
 
Defensively, junior Shira Lahav paced the Aggies with 24 digs. Sophomore Casi Newman collected a career-high 54 assists when dishing out to Light, Webb and the rest of the UC Davis offense on the night.
 
To begin the opening set, the Matadors jumped out front to a 6-2 lead, but the visiting Aggies bounced back to knot the score at 11-11 with a huge overpass kill by Radakovic. Out of a media timeout, the Aggies and Matadors locked horns with back-to-back scoring, but CSUN just edged out the set point by a score of 25-22.
 
Set two saw the Matadors starting strong with a 7-4 advantage out of the frame. Conners utilized both timeouts midway to stop CSUN from adding to its lead. The Aggies utilized a 4-0 run to cut the Matador lead to 20-19, but UC Davis just missed tying the score and eventually the home team took the set narrowly, 25-22.
 
Looking to change the course of momentum from the match, the Aggies started the third set with an 8-6 lead, thanks to back-to-back kills by Webb and Radakovic amidst a 4-0 run. The Aggies continued to pile on the pressure in the set, extending their lead to 19-14. CSUN crawled back, but the Aggies denied their chance to sweep, securing the set point on a Hogan kill for a 25-21 victory.
 
The Matadors looked to prevent the game from reaching five sets after starting the fourth frame with a 10-4 lead. However, the Aggies would respond with Webb and Light carrying the torch offensively, and eventually bouncing back to a 24-24 tie. The Aggies and Matadors battled back and forth going the distance as Light smashed home a kill followed by another kill by Radakovic to send the match to five sets by a score of 29-27.
 
For the fifth and final set, the Aggies got off to a strong start with Light leading the way to an 8-6 advantage. However, once the sides switched, the Matadors discovered some momentum and tied it up at 13 apiece. The fifth set went beyond the distance and ultimately CSUN strung together two straight points to win a hard-fought set and match, 17-15.
 
The Aggies wrap up their four-game road trip tomorrow against UC Santa Barbara at 7 pm PT.