STANISLAUS, Calif. ? The 14th-ranked UC San Diego women's volleyball team defeated Cal State Stanislaus 30-20, 30-27, 20-30, 30-23 on Saturday afternoon in Warrior Gym. With the win, UCSD improves to 17-2, 12-2 CCAA, while the Warriors drop to 10-11, 6-8 CCAA. The Tritons called on their big three in the win as Brianna Koche (18 kills), Rebecca Bailey (15 kills) and Nicole Courtney (14 kills) provided most of the offense. Courtney also added 11 digs and four aces, while Bailey added four aces and four blocks. Natalie Facchini had a team-high 18 digs for the Tritons.
Game one started with the Tritons scoring seven of the first nine points. CSUS would come back to within 13-11 after a block assist. After the Warriors narrowed the game down to 15-14, a Bailey and Koche block, followed by an Elaine Chen ace put the Tritons back ahead 17-14. With the score at 23-20 UCSD, Courtney got the side out with a solo block. She then served up six consecutive points, the last two on aces to close out game one, 30-20 UCSD.
In game two, CSUS took its first lead of the day at 8-7 in game two. From that point, the teams stayed within two points of each other, before the Tritons put up a 23-20 lead after a Bailey ace and CSUS attack error. CSUS battled right back to tie the game at 24-24. The Warriors took the lead at 26-25 after an ace. UCSD called on Koche as she sent down consecutive kills as the Tritons went back ahead 28-27. After the CSUS timeout, the Tritons quickly ended the game as Bailey put down the final kill and UCSD won game two 30-27.
The Warriors came out firing in game three, taking a 9-3 lead. UCSD began to chip away on serves by Karen Reis, scoring five straight points and tying the game at 11-11. The Warriors then opened a 17-13 lead, right when it looked like the Tritons were poised to take a lead. CSUS then opened a nine point advantage at 23-14, its largest of the game. CSUS would easily take game three and force a game four at 30-20.
CSUS and UCSD played even, before the Tritons put together a small run to lead 14-10. After a CSUS timeout, Bailey served another run to put UCSD ahead 17-11. The Tritons extended the lead to 26-18 on a Bailey and Sylvia Schmidt block. Natalie Facchini served up an ace to end the match at 30-23.
UCSD is back in action on Friday, October 20 when it hosts Cal Poly Pomona at 7:00 p.m. in RIMAC Arena.
