SAN DIEGO - The UC San Diego women's volleyball team split a pair of matches Saturday to conclude action at the crosstown Seaside Invitational at Golden Gymnasium. The Tritons defeated Regis University in four sets before falling just short in a back-and-forth, five-frame battle against host Point Loma.
UCSD is now 3-1 after its strong showing during the season-opening tournament.
Scores against Regis were 25-21, 21-25, 25-20 and 25-13. The Rangers fell to 2-2 with the loss.
UCSD was dominating and held substantial advantages in almost every statistical category including hitting percentage (.331-.201), kills (66-47), assist percentage (.444-.301), digs (70-53) and blocks (9-3). The Tritons had 66 kills with just 19 errors in 142 attempts for a .331 attack, its highest since Nov. 8, 2013 when it hit .350 (45-10-100) against Humboldt State.
Three Tritons had 10 or more kills with Meagan Wright putting away a match-high 22. Danielle Dahle followed with 16 and Kameron Cooper had 11. Dahle earned her first double-double of the season by adding 13 digs and also chipped in with four blocks and three aces.
Setter Heidi Sierks was the second Triton with a double-double, collecting 54 assists and a match co-high 16 digs. For the second straight contest, Rebecca Seaberry led all players with five blocks.
Katie Klein topped Regis with 14 kills. Diamond Ridley Pierce and Maggie Steward each had 12 kills and Rebecca Sponcil was the defensive team leader with 16 digs.
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Scores of the marathon against Point Loma went 17-25, 27-25, 23-25, 25-18 and 20-18 in favor of the Sea Lions. Both UCSD and PLNU went into the tournament finalé with 3-0 records.
Dahle again posted a double-double with 23 kills and 14 digs. Four Tritons had at least 20 digs including Wright (26), Kayla Evans (25), Sierks (22) and Amanda Colla (20). Seaberry added another six blocks to her total and Colla knocked in four service aces.
Heather Leavitt had 35 kills Christin Fisher amassed 36 digs for Point Loma.
The Sea Lions hit .210 (75-25-238) while the Tritons swung at .198 (68-23-227).
Colla and Wright were named to the all-tournament team. Over four matches and 15 sets, Colla totaled nine service aces and 63 digs as UCSD's libero. Through 15 sets, Wright came away with 59 kills, 53 digs, 10 blocks and 65 points.
Leavitt was tabbed the tourney MVP.
UCSD travels to Denver to play in the Colorado Premier Challenge Sept. 11-12. The Tritons face reigning national champion Tampa as well as Central Missouri Friday. Saturday's match-ups will be determined by Friday's results.
All-Tournament Team
Caitie Breaux, Colorado Mesa
Amanda Colla, UC San Diego
Christin Fisher, Point Loma
Rachel Flynn, Concordia
Katie Klein, Regis
Heather Leavitt, Point Loma (MVP)
Savannah Wedemeyer, Point Loma
Meagan Wright, UC San Diego
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