CHICO, Calif. - The UC San Diego women's volleyball team had a dominating night at the net with a season-high in blocks, but fell in four sets to league opponent Chico State Friday at Acker Gym.
Scores of the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) match were 25-22, 28-26, 23-25 and 25-22. UCSD, which was riding a modest two-match win streak, fell to 10-6 overall and 8-4 in the CCAA. Chico State snapped a three-match skid to improve to 8-8 and 6-6.
"We blocked well, but couldn't get the offense going," said UCSD head coach Ricci Luyties. "We needed some kills that didn't happen."
The Tritons racked up 18 total team blocks. Middle blocker Kameron Cooper owned a career-best 10, three of those solos. Caitlin Brenton had six blocks as one of six UCSD players with multiple stuffs.
The Wildcats managed just six blocks on the night, but held a 61 to 51 advantage in kills and a 97 to 90 edge in digs.
Brenton led UCSD with 16.5 points and had 12 kills and eight digs. Cooper finished with 15.5 points, putting down nine kills to go along with her big block total. Freshman Amanda Colla (Carlsbad/San Dieguito Academy) had a double-double with 10 kills and 15 digs. Setter Heidi Sierks also notched a double with 38 assists and a team-best 18 digs.
The Wildcats got 17 kills from Ellie Larronde and 27 digs out of Emily Duran, both match-highs.
Neither team hit well, both finishing under .150. UCSD swung at .138 (51-26-181), while CSUC was at .126 (61-35-206).
After going down by two sets, the Tritons came back to win the third and were well on their way to forcing a fifth set. UCSD blasted out to a 6-1 lead in the fourth frame backed by three kills and three hitting errors by the Wildcats. However, with UC San Diego leading 17-14, the Wildcats exploded for seven straight points to go up 21-17. Larronde had three kills during the run. UCSD got back within two points, the final time at 24-22, but a kill by Shannon Boling gave the match to Chico.
"Chico played us really tough," said Luyties. "We have to play well against every team in this conference in order to get a win."
UCSD plays at Cal State Stanislaus Saturday night at 7 p.m. The Warriors (2-14, 2-10 CCAA) were swept by Cal Poly Pomona Friday at home. The match will be covered by live stats and video here.
The Tritons defeated the Warriors, 3-1, in September at RIMAC Arena.
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