LA JOLLA, California—The UC San Diego women's volleyball team defeated CSUN in four sets Friday night to earn its first-ever Big West Conference series sweep.
Scores from RIMAC Arena were 22-25, 25-23, 25-20, and 25-18. The Tritons improved to 8-14 on the season and 5-6 in conference action. With their third-straight loss, the Matadors fell to 4-17 and 3-8.
UC San Diego also topped CSUN, 3-1, on September 25 in Northridge. It was the Tritons' inaugural Big West victory.
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HOW IT HAPPENED
UC San Diego hit .223 with 61 kills and 24 errors in 166 attack attempts.
Three Tritons produced the bulk of the team's offensive output. Outside
Ava McInnes posted a match-high 18 kills, outside
Sabire Karacaova equaled her career-high with 17 kills, and opposite
Trinity Castaneda finished with 14 kills. Karacaova had three aces and notched a double-double with 15 digs and Castaneda hit .355 with just three errors in 31 swings.
Setter
Isabela Dobra quarterbacked the offense and racked up 54 assists, the second-highest total of her season. The senior completed a double-double with 13 digs and also had four blocks at the net.
Libero
Naya Dong established a new career-best with 33 digs to lead all players on the defensive end.
CSUN hit .174 with 44 kills and 17 errors in 155 attacks. Lauryn Anderson and Nicole Nevarez each had 10 kills for the Matadors. Makayla Bradford had 30 digs.
There were 28 tie scores in the match, 11 of those coming in the opening set. The lead changed just 10 times, with five of those in set one.
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HIGHLIGHT REEL
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WHAT HEAD COACH RICCI LUYTIES HAD TO SAY
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TRITON TIDBITS
• UC San Diego has had at least 60 kills in three of its last four matches.
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Isabela Dobra has totaled at least 50 assists five times this season, three of those coming over her last four matches.
• Dobra has 12 double-doubles in 2021.
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Ava McInnes has finished with 10 or more kills in 14 of 22 matches, which includes her last six outings.
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UP NEXT
UC San Diego hosts UC Santa Barbara (14-9, 10-1) on Saturday, October 30 at 7 p.m. The Gauchos defeated the Tritons in four sets on September 24 at the Thunderdome. UCSB has won its last three matches, which includes a 3-2 victory at UC Irvine Friday.
For live coverage links and UC San Diego's complete 2021 schedule,
click here.
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About UC San Diego Athletics
After two decades as one of the most successful programs in NCAA Division II, the UC San Diego intercollegiate athletics program began a new era in 2020 as a member of the Big West Conference in NCAA Division I. The 23-sport Tritons earned 30 team and nearly 150 individual national championships during its time in Divisions II and III and helped guide 1,400 scholar-athletes to All-America honors. A total of 84 Tritons have earned Academic All-America honors, while 38 have earned prestigious NCAA Post Graduate Scholarships. UC San Diego scholar-athletes exemplify the academic ideals of one of the world's preeminent institutions, graduating at an average rate of 91 percent, one of the highest rates among institutions at all divisions.
