ARCATA, Calif. ? The 11th-ranked UC San Diego women's volleyball team defeated Humboldt State 30-24, 30-23, 31-33, 30-26 on Friday night in Arcata. Rebecca Bailey came up big for UCSD with 19 kills and hit at a .375 clip. Brianna Koche came close to a triple-double with 12 kills, 10 blocks and eight digs. Sylvia Schmidt came off the Triton bench to add 10 kills and hit .450. Natalie Facchini had a team-high 19 digs. Kristin Halvorsen ran the offense with 52 assists and added 14 digs. UCSD improves to 22-2, 17-2 CCAA while HSU drops to 8-15, 5-14 CCAA. UCSD is back in action on Saturday night when it takes on Sonoma State at 7:00 p.m. in Rohnert Park.
UCSD fell behind 5-0 in game one, before an Amber Ries and Koche block got the Tritons on the board. UCSD would tie the game at 7-7 and take its first lead at 9-8 on a HSU ball handling error. With UCSD leading 17-15, the Tritons closed out the match by scoring 13 of the next 22 points to win the game on a Schmidt kill at 30-24.
HSU took advantage of another slow UCSD start in game two, this time the Lumberjacks raced to a 7-3 lead. Down 8-4, UCSD scored 10 unanswered points on a Halvorsen serving run, forcing HSU to call timeout as UCSD led 14-8. HSU could not pull closer than four points the rest of the way as UCSD cruised to the 30-23 win.
HSU began game three like the others, this time taking a 13-7 lead. UCSD stormed back to tie it at 13-13 on a serving run by Schmidt. This time, HSU regained momentum, taking a 19-14 advantage after a block. With UCSD down 25-21, the Tritons put a small run together to tie the game at 29-29 after a Bailey kill. Casey Wilson then slammed down a kill to give the Tritons game and match point. A few late UCSD errors allowed HSU the chance to avoid the sweep, which they did with back-to-back kills and forcing game four 33-31.
UCSD finally got off to a good start in the fourth game, scoring eight of the first 10 points. HSU cut the deficit down to 13-11, but UCSD responded with five straight points to lead 19-12. HSU put one last run together to come within 23-20, but two HSU errors and a Michelle Torres ace gave the Tritons a 26-20 lead that would be too much for HSU to overcome. Koche sent down the final kill at 30-26 UCSD.
The Tritons will try to become the first team to defeat Sonoma State in Rohnert Park after playing in Arcata the previous night.
