HONOLULU, HI - The 4th-ranked UC San Diego women's volleyball team swept two matches on Friday at the Honolulu Invitational. The Tritons (5-2) began the day by handing Northwest Nazarene (5-1) its first loss of the season with a 30-24, 30-19, 31-29 win. It was once again the trio of Rebecca Bailey (17 kills), Amber Ries (14 kills) and Sylvia Schmidt (11 kills) leading the way. In its second match of the night, UCSD defeated Hawaii Pacific (2-4) 30-18, 30-22, 30-17. The Tritons hit at a .290 clip with Bailey notching 15 kills (.393) and Ries adding 10 kills (.625). Schmidt registered four of the Tritons' 15 aces against HPU. Elaine Chen had a combined 83 assists in the two matches on Saturday. UCSD is back in action against BYU-Hawaii on Saturday night. First serve is set for 7:00 p.m. at BYUH.
UCSD 3, NNU 0
With the score knotted at 8-8 in the first game, the Tritons went on a 9-1 run to open up a close game and take a 17-9 advantage. NNU put together a small run to cut the deficit down to 19-16, but consecutive Bailey kills started a four point run, pushing the Tritons back ahead 23-17. UCSD would roll to the 30-23 win, the final kill by Hannah Gary.
UCSD led 15-12 in game two, before a 10-3 scoring run gave the Tritons a 10 point lead at 25-15. Karen Reis put down the game ending kill at 30-19.
Game three was the closest of the evening as NNU led by as many as four points at 16-12. The Tritons would tie the game on a couple of occasions, but still found themselves trailing at 24-22. Consecutive kills by Gary and Schmidt, followed by a Gary and Elaine Chen block pushed the Tritons ahead 26-24. NNU rallied back to tie the game at 28-28 and forced a game point after a block assist. NNU could not get that final point as Schmidt put down a kill to tie the game at 29-29. Lauren Bradley and Schmidt recorded a big block for the Tritons, giving UCSD game and match point. UCSD then called Bradley's number and she put down the kill for the 31-29 win.
UCSD 3, HPU 0
The Tritons fell behind early as HPU began the match with three consecutive blocks and led 4-0 as UCSD used a quick timeout. Trailing 10-6 after another HPU block, UCSD went on a 12-2 run which included two Ries kills, two Bailey kills and two aces by Natalie Facchini. Leading 23-17, the Tritons would close the game by scoring seven of the next eight points, the last on another Facchini ace to take the game 30-18.
The Tritons took command towards the early mid-point of the second game. With the score knotted at 10-10, a serving run by Lauren Bradley put UCSD on top 15-10. HPU would come within three points at 17-14, but two attack errors followed by Bailey and Michelle Torres kills put the Tritons ahead 22-14. UCSD would go on to take the game 30-22.
UCSD wrapped up the sweep with several small scoring runs in the third game. With UCSD leading 21-16, Torres served up the last scoring run of the night as Gary and Chen block and Torres aces gave UCSD the 30-17 game three win.
