LA JOLLA, Calif.—UC San Diego women's volleyball took down UC Riverside in straight sets on Saturday evening in LionTree Arena.
 
The Tritons (14-9, 8-4 Big West) defeated the Highlanders (8-16, 3-8 Big West) by set scores of 25-21, 25-18 and 25-21.
 
Kylie Pries led the offense with a match-high 13 kills, while Emily McDaniel finished with 11 kills and Molly McCluskey and Jasmine Saran chipped in nine and eight respectively. Pries also led the Tritons with three aces for a team-best 16.5 points and added six digs in the match.
 
McCluskey finished just shy of a double-double for the second night in a row after collecting a team-best 17 digs—topping her career high from the previous night. Paulina Baillie finished just behind her with 15 digs and Audrey Hollis was one shy of a double-double with 39 assists and nine digs. McDaniel led the team at the net with four blocks, while Saran tallied three.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
The teams kept things close to begin the match, battling all the way to a 16-16 tie. The Tritons put together a 4-1 run behind a pair of kills from McDaniel and kills from McInnes and Pries to make it 20-17. The teams traded points down the stretch before UC San Diego got back-to-back kills by McCluskey to take the opening set, 25-21. 
 
The Tritons used a five-point serving run by Pries to build an early 7-5 lead to start the second set. Another four-point run with Iris Canko at the line extended UC San Diego's advantage, 14-9, midway through the frame. The Tritons maintained the momentum down the stretch, scoring the final three points on three consecutive kills by McDaniel, Saran and Pries to take the second set, 25-18.
 
The teams traded points early on in set three, battling to a 13-13 tie midway through the frame. UC Riverside then created some space with a 6-2 scoring run to lead the Tritons, 19-15. UC San Diego responded with an 8-1 scoring run highlighted by a six-point service run from Baillie to take the lead, 23-20. A final kill from Saran and a UCR hitting error closed out the set, 25-21, and the match, 3-0, for the Tritons.
 
TRITON TIDBITS

• Molly McCluskey set a career high 17 digs, topping her previous high of 14 from the night before vs UC Davis.
• Kylie Pries led the Tritons offensively for the third time this season with 16.5 points and 13 kills.
• The Tritons held the advantage in blocks (7-3), kills (48-34) and digs (61-52), while the teams were evenly matched in aces (5-5). UC San Diego hit .325 in the match, compared to .179 for UCR.
• UC San Diego is 4-3 in three-set matches this season. It was the first three-set match for the Tritons since a 3-0 loss to Long Beach State (Oct. 3).
• With the win, the Tritons are 10-16 in the all-time series (7-1 in D-I) and 2-0 on the season series with UC Riverside.
• UC San Diego starters were Kylie Pries, Molly McCluskey, Paulina Baillie, Audrey Hollis, Jasmine Saran, Emily McDaniel and Iris Canko. 

UP NEXT
The Tritons will hit the road for a four-match stretch—their last of the season—traveling to face UC Irvine on Friday at 6 p.m. and Cal State Fullerton on Saturday at 4 p.m. 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 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.