LA JOLLA, Calif. - The 2nd-ranked UC San Diego women's volleyball team cruised to its 15th sweep of the season and 16th consecutive win in a 25-16, 25-20, 25-18 win over Cal State East Bay on Wednesday night in RIMAC Arena. The Tritons outhit the Pioneers .316 - .021 as
Sylvia Schmidt had nine kills and
Julia Freidenberg added eight kills on .500 hitting. UCSD's winning streak is its longest since winning 18 consecutive matches during the 2006 NCAA National Finals campaign. With the win, UCSD improves to 25-1, 17-1 California Collegiate Athletic Association, while Cal State East Bay drops to 8-18, 6-12 CCAA.
Hillary Williamson added eight kills without an attack error on .348 hitting with five digs for the Tritons. Katie Condon played just one set and sent down four kills with three digs and a solo block. Cara Simonsen, Alanna Rutan, Elaine Chen and Lauren Bradley also registered multi-kills.
Schmidt's nine kills brings her season total to 377 kills which is the eighth best mark in school history. The top single-season mark at UCSD is 439 kills. That mark was set by Bonnie Wilson during the 2004 season.
Freidenberg improved her season hitting percentage to .377. If the season were to end today, that mark is the third best single-season hitting percentage mark at UCSD. The all-time mark was set by Katie Hogan at .399 during the 2004 year.
Roxanne Brunsting had a match-high 14 digs, bringing her season total to 395 digs. The sophomore libero is set to pass her freshman year total of 424 digs. Brunsting's freshman total was the third highest mark in school history.
With 34 assists, Chen is up to 1,032 this season and 2,853 in her career. With just three more assists, Chen will move up to No. 2 all-time at UCSD. She will pass Sherine Ebadi who had 2,856 assists from 1995-97. The all-time mark is held by Teresa Ohta who had 4,749 assists from 2001-04.
In the first set, the Tritons hit at a .387 clip while holding the Pioneers to just -.074 hitting. Condon sent down four kills in the set, her only set played on the night. With the Tritons holding a 9-8 lead, UCSD went on a 10-3 run and pulled away. Bradley had the last two kills of the set for the Tritons as UCSD took the set at 25-16.
In the second set, CSUEB took a 7-2 lead and the Tritons would come back to tie the set at 10-10 on a Williamson kill. The Tritons got their first lead of the set at 12-11 on a Schmidt kill. With the score tied at 15-15, UCSD scored the next four points, two of which came on Freidenberg kills. CSUEB would not get closer than three points the rest of the way as UCSD closed the set on a CSUEB attack error.
CSUEB hung with the Tritons in the third set as the teams were tied at 15-15. With UCSD leading 18-17, the Tritons would score six straight points on a Schmidt service run to put the match out of reach. Freidenberg had the final kill at 25-18.
UCSD is back in action on Friday night when it travels to San Francisco State. First serve is set for 7:00 p.m. on the SFSU campus.
