LA JOLLA, Calif. ? The 12th-ranked UC San Diego women's volleyball team swept Chico State 25-17, 25-21, 26-24 on Friday night in front of 827 fans in RIMAC Arena. The Tritons hit at a .294 clip and held the Wildcats to a .184 percentage. “I felt we did a great job tonight against the speed of their offense,” said head coach Tom Black. UCSD was led by Rebecca Bailey and Sylvia Schmidt with 12 kills apiece. Kimberly Carpenter and Hillary Williamson added seven kills each. Ealine Chen had 30 assists and five aces. With the win, the Tritons improve to 20-5, 14-4 California Collegiate Athletic Association, while the Wildcats drop to 18-10, 11-7 CCAA.
All four of the UCSD seniors contributed in the Senior Day win. Michelle Torres, Rebecca Bailey, Kimberly Carpenter and Kacey Martinez all played in their final collegiate matches in RIMAC Arena. Torres finished with six digs, Bailey with 12 kills on .280 hitting, Carpenter with seven kills and Martinez got the start at setter and was a perfect 5-for-5 in assists, helping the Tritons to a 6-4 lead in the first set.
The Tritons would extend their first set lead to 10-4 and would not let the Wildcats closer than 15-12 the rest of the way. UCSD hit at a .382 clip in the set, winning 25-17.
UCSD scored seven of the first nine points in the second set to grab the early lead. UCSD opened up its largest lead of 19-11 on a Chen ace. Chico State would rally back to come within 21-19 after a block. Leading 23-21, the Tritons got two kills from Schmidt to close out the set at 25-21.
The third set was the closest of the night as the teams would tie nine times with five lead changes. Chico State had the early lead at 10-8 after a Megan Cape kill. CSUC upped the lead to 22-18 after consecutive Gillian Heydorff kills. UCSD followed with back-to-back kills from the senior duo of Carpenter and Bailey. With Carpenter still serving, Schmidt sent down two unanswered kills and the Tritons were even at 22-22. Tied at 24-24, CSUC had a service error and an attack error to close out the match in favor of UCSD 26-24.
Chico State was led by Heydorff with 12 kills while Crystal Trifeletti added nine kills on .471 hitting.
UCSD recorded its 20th win of the year for the 12th time in the last 13 seasons.
The Tritons are back in action next week at Humboldt State on Friday, November 14.
