HARRISONBURG, Va.—UC San Diego women's volleyball came up just short of a reverse sweep, falling 3-2 at James Madison to open the Erie Insurance Invitational.
The Tritons (5-2) fell to the Dukes (3-3), 18-25, 18-25, 25-22, 25-17 and 9-15 in the Convocation Center.
Ava McInnes led the team with 16 kills and six aces for 22 points, hitting .300 in the match.
Molly McCluskey recorded her first collegiate double-double, finishing with 10 kills and a team-high 13 digs.
Audrey Hollis collected 34 assists.
Middles
Emily McDaniel and
Jasmine Saran both finished with six blocks, while
Kylie Pries tallied four. Libero
Paulina Baillie tallied 12 digs, while
Kayla Uhlick added eight.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Tritons struggled to get going offensively, dropping the first two sets by identical scores of 25-18. UC San Diego hit .032 in the opening set with just nine kills on 31 swings with eight errors. The Tritons also committed six serving errors, compared to four for the Dukes.
The second set remained a two-point contest to the midway point before JMU took control, outscoring the Tritons, 9-4, down the stretch.
UC San Diego came out of the intermission with renewed energy, jumping out to an early 7-1 lead in set three. The Dukes rallied back to tie the set, 16-all, before the Tritons put together an 8-1 scoring run to retake the lead. JMU responded with a 5-1 run of its own to make it 24-22 before McInnes closed out the set with a kill and kept the Tritons alive in the match.
The Tritons recorded their best hitting percentage of the match in the fourth set (.391), taking an early 8-5 lead. A three-point serving run—including an ace—by McInnes built the UC San Diego lead to five, 15-10. The Tritons continued to extend their advantage down the stretch and took the fourth set, 25-17, to force a deciding fifth set.
In the final frame, the teams traded points to a 9-9 tie before the Dukes scored the final seven points to take the set, 15-9, and the match, 3-2.
TRITON TIDBITS
- Ava McInnes' six services aces were one shy of the Tritons Division I single match record.
- Freshman Molly McCluskey has tallied double-figure kills in all seven matches this season, recording her first collegiate double-double in the match.
- Both of the Tritons losses have come in five set this season.
- With the loss, the Tritons are now 0-1 in the all-time series with James Madison.
UP NEXT
UC San Diego will conclude its east coast road trip on Friday, taking on Western Michigan in a neutral contest at the Erie Insurance Invitational. The match is scheduled for 3 p.m. PT. There is no live broadcast but 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.
