RIVERSIDE, California—The UC San Diego women's volleyball team rolled to a sweeping, 3-0 victory on the road at Big West Conference opponent UC Riverside Saturday.
Scores from SRC Arena went 25-16, 25-23, and 25-14. The win pushed UC San Diego to 9-16 overall and 6-8 in league action. UC Riverside is now 6-18 and 2-12.
The Tritons swept the season series as they defeated the Highlanders in four sets on October 1 in La Jolla.
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HOW IT HAPPENED
The Tritons led in just about every positive stat category including hitting percentage (.211 to .052), kills (41 to 29), service aces (4-3), digs (72 to 64), and blocks (7 to 4).
The Triton outside hitters posted strong performances. For the fourth-consecutive match, freshman
Sabire Karacaova put up a double-digit kill total with 13, a match-high.
Zaria Henderson, also a freshman outside, finished with 11 kills while hitting .310. She also amassed 17 digs, a new career-best.
Sophomore opposite
Grace Cannon had seven kills and zero errors in 18 attack attempts, good for a .389 hitting percentage. She also had four blocks (one solo). Joining her in stuffs at the net was sophomore opposite
Dani Mason, who had four blocks (two solos), a new career-high.
Senior setter
Isabela Dobra was on the double-double list for the 15th time this season as she had 31 assists and 17 digs. She also added two aces and a kill.
Also joining Dobra and Karacaova with 10 or more digs were junior libero
Naya Dong (match-high 18) and senior
Susanna Limb (10).
For the Highlanders, Deja Bickers led her team in kills with nine. Dejah Jade had 17 digs.
With the opening set tied 11-11, the Tritons busted out a 12-1 run to take it to 23-12. Their final two points to clinch the set came on kills by Karacaova and Cannon.
UC San Diego came back big to win the second set.
Down 18-11, the Tritons scored six straight points to get back within one. The Highlanders scored the next two points to go up 20-17, but UC San Diego took the next four to earn the lead. After going point-for-point up to 23-23, the Tritons were able to close it out with a Mason block and a ball handling error by UCR.
The third set saw the Tritons get on it early as they rolled to a 5-0 lead. A later 5-1 run pushed UC San Diego's lead to 10 at 17-7. The deficit was too much for the Highlanders to overcome and the sweep went to UC San Diego.
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WHAT HEAD COACH RICCI LUYTIES HAD TO SAY
"That was a great win on the road with UC Riverside coming off a big win Thursday night.
Our defense was touching everything and we served well.
The second set wasn't going our way and somehow they turned it around after being down 18-11. Those are games that when you win, it can stick with you for a long time.
We made some big plays to pull it out in the end.
It's a great shot of confidence and hopefully they can hold on to that.
It really looked like we were enjoying playing together and gelling as a team."
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TRITON TIDBITS
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Dani Mason's previous career-high in blocks was three, set on October 30 against UC Santa Barbara.
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Isabela Dobra has logged a double-double in each of her last four matches.
• It was the Tritons' second Big West season series sweep after defeating CSUN twice as well.
• UC San Diego had consistent hitting this week, finishing at .211 today and .210 Thursday at UC Davis.
• UC Riverside was coming off a five-set win over UC Irvine Thursday.
• The Highlanders' .052 attack tied for the lowest by a Triton opponent this season (Southeastern Louisiana).
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UP NEXT
UC San Diego remains on the road to play at UC Irvine on November 9 and Hawaii on November 14.
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.
