LA JOLLA, Calif. ? The 16th-ranked UC San Diego women's volleyball team knocked off the No. 1 team in the country, defeating No. 1 Cal State San Bernardino 24-26, 22-25, 25-16, 25-20, 15-12 on Friday night in front of 915 fans in RIMAC Arena. After dropping a heartbreaking first set and going down 0-2, UCSD rallied to take the final three sets. UCSD hit .333 in set four and .391 in set five. Hillary Williamson had a career-high 17 kills while Cara Simonsen recorded several key blocks, including her eighth block of the night which gave UCSD the serve for match-point. UCSD improves to 10-2, 4-1 California Collegiate Athletic Association while the Coyotes drop to 12-1, 5-1 CCAA.
For the third consecutive year, the Tritons have handed Cal State San Bernardino its first conference loss of the season. In last year's UCSD win, CSUSB was ranked No. 2 in the nation.
Elaine Chen picked up the offense in the final three sets, finishing the night with 30 assists, nine digs and two blocks. Roxanne Brunsting led all players with 15 digs while Michelle Torres added 11 digs and five of UCSD's 15 aces. Rebecca Bailey and Kimberly Carpenter had 12 kills apiece, while Sylvia Schmidt added 11 kills. Simonsen's eight blocks is a career-high.
CSUSB was led by Jessica Granados with 13 kills while Sara Rice had eight kills on .438 hitting.
In the first set, the Tritons came back from an early four point deficit to tie the set at 20-20. The Tritons took a 24-23 lead on a Williamson kill. CSUSB responded with a block and a Triton error gave CSUSB set point. CSUSB got another block to take set one 26-24.
CSUSB took game two 25-22. UCSD trailed throughout most of the latter stages, coming as close as 24-22. The Tritons committed 16 errors in the first two sets, but only eight in the final three sets. At the same time, CSUSB committed a combined 19 errors in sets three and four.
UCSD used several short runs in the third set to take a 15-7 lead after a Simonsen and Carpenter block. After CSUSB cut the lead down to five, the Tritons pulled away on aces by Janessa Werhane and Schmidt. Williamson recorded UCSD's last three kills of the set for the 25-16 win.
The Tritons led by a slim 20-19 lead in game four before a CSUSB attack error and a Carpenter kill gave the Tritons a 22-19 edge. UCSD added two more points on CSUSB errors and took the set on a Williamson and Simonsen block at 25-20.
In the fifth set, CSUSB scored the first two points. From that point, the Tritons went on an 8-3 run to lead 8-5 after Williamson's kill as the team's changed courts. CSUSB came as close as 10-9 after a UCSD error. Out of a Triton timeout, Carpenter sent down a kill to make the score 12-10. After a Granados kill made it 12-11, Schmidt sent down a kill, followed by Simonsen's big solo block to give the Tritons match point at 14-11. After a service error, the Tritons set Bailey and she responded with the match-ender at 15-12.
UCSD is back in action on Saturday night when it hosts No. 20 Cal Poly Pomona. First serve is set for 7:00 p.m. in RIMAC Arena.
