LA JOLLA, Calif.–UC San Diego women's volleyball earned its second Big West sweep of the season with a 3-0 victory over CSU Bakersfield on Saturday evening in LionTree Arena.
 
The Tritons (10-12, 3-7 Big West) won in dominating fashion, 25-13, 25-19, 25-18, over the visiting Roadrunners (5-17, 2-8 Big West).
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
UC San Diego held the advantage in aces (9-4), kills (37-23) and digs (50-36) with a .198 hitting percentage. CSU Bakersfield held the slight advantage in blocks (8-6), while hitting at a .010 clip.
 
Ava McInnes led the way with 13 kills, while Emily McDaniel added seven kills and Zaria Henderson chipped in five. Henderson also matched her career high with five aces and McInnes added two. Shara Da Silva and Katie Rapp finished with a team-best three blocks each, while McInnes tallied two. Izzi Strand notched her 11th double-double with 29 assists and 12 digs, while Natalie Repetti led the team with 13 digs and Naya Dong finished with 12.
 
It was a back-and-forth battle to begin the opening set. With the teams knotted at 9-all, UC San Diego went on a 12-point run behind the tough serving of Henderson and cruised to a first-set victory, 25-13. 
 
The Roadrunners took the early lead, 10-7, before the Tritons used another run—this time seven straight points—to create distance, 14-10. CSUB pulled within one point late, but UC San Diego closed out the second set with a 6-1 run to take the second, 25-19, and lead the match, 2-0. 
 
In the final set, the teams remained close to the midway point with a 12-12 tie. UC San Diego then tallied a 4-0 run behind two aces from McInnes to create a bit of breathing room, 16-12. UC San Diego used another four-point run with Rapp at the service line to extend their lead, 21-15, before CSUB responded with a 3-0 run to put pressure on the Tritons. UC San Diego scored the final four points, including two aces from Henderson to take the set, 25-18, and the match, 3-0.
 
TRITON TIDBITS

• It was the second Big West sweep for the Tritons and fourth sweep of the season.
• Izzi Strand notched her 11th double-double of the season.
• The contest marked the eighth annual Karen E. Reis Memorial Match.
• With the win, UC San Diego improved to 19-15 in the all-time series with CSU Bakersfield and 1-2 in the Division I era. 

UP NEXT
UC San Diego will hit the road for a pair of matches next weekend, facing CSUN on Friday at 7 p.m. PT and traveling to UC Santa Barbara on Sunday at 4 p.m. PT. The matches will be broadcast on ESPN+ and live statistics will be available via UCSDTritons.com.
 
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 83 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.