LA JOLLA, Calif. ? The 20th-ranked UC San Diego women's volleyball team completed its three-match homestand with a 30-17, 30-23, 30-21 sweep against Humboldt State in RIMAC Arena on Saturday night. The Tritons hit .282 for the match, led by Rebecca Bailey with 16 kills on .324 hitting. UCSD recorded 13 aces, compared to just one by the Lumberjacks. Elaine Chen tallied five aces to go along with her 42 assists. Sylvia Schmidt, Casey Wilson and Amber Ries added nine kills apiece. Natalie Facchini recorded a match-high 21 digs. UCSD improves to 10-5, 4-3 CCAA while HSU drops to 6-10, 2-6 CCAA.
The 16 kills by Bailey was the exact amount she had in the 2006 match against HSU in RIMAC. In the 2006 meeting, Bailey's line of 16 kills and a .433 hitting percentage was similar to today's match. Bailey recorded 16 kills and hit at a .324 clip.
Ries recorded UCSD's most efficient night, with nine kills and a .500 hitting percentage. Wilson also had an efficient night hitting at a .314 clip with nine kills.
The 13 team aces is the ninth time the Tritons have recorded at least 10 aces in a single match. The Tritons last recorded the feat at Cal State Stanislaus on September 15. In addition to Chen's five aces, Schmidt added three, while Bailey and Wilson added two apiece.
The Tritons led 8-6 in game one before going on a 7-3 run to open up a 15-9 advantage. After an HSU timeout, UCSD scored six straight points including two Bailey kills to open up a 20-10 lead. UCSD led by as many as 13 points and closed out the game on an HSU service error at 30-17 UCSD.
UCSD had its most efficient game in game two, hitting at a .343 clip. There were 10 ties and three lead changes in the game, with the last tie at 17-17. At that point, kills by Hannah Gary and two by Wilson opened up a three-point lead. HSU would come back within 22-21, but UCSD responded with four straight points which included two Bailey kills. The Tritons would continue to keep pressure on the Jacks' and wrapped up game two on a Chen service ace at 30-23.
HSU hung around and kept game three close at 20-17. At that point, two HSU errors to go along with a Schmidt kill helped the Tritons to a 23-17 lead. Right out of an HSU timeout, Wilson slammed home back-to-back kills to open up a 25-17 lead and the rest of the game was never in doubt. Bailey sent down the final kill on a set by Kacey Martinez as the Tritons had the sweep at 30-21.
UCSD is back in action next weekend when it heads to Cal State Monterey Bay. First serve is set for Friday at 7:00 p.m. in Seaside.
