HARRISONBURG, Va.—UC San Diego women's volleyball secured a three-set sweep of Western Michigan to close out the Erie Insurance Invitational.
 
The Tritons (6-2) defeated the Broncos (4-3), 25-19, 25-19 and 25-16 in the Convocation Center.
 
For the second straight match, Ava McInnes led the team offensively with nine kills, two aces and one solo block for 12 points, adding six digs in the contest. Middles Emily McDaniel and Jasmine Saran each added eight kills in the contest, while McDaniel led the team with six blocks. 
 
Audrey Hollis collected 32 assists and led the team with four aces, adding three blocks. Libero Paulina Baillie led the Tritons in the back court with 13 digs, while Molly McCluskey added nine.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Tritons took an early 8-3 lead in set one and extended their advantage to as many as six midway through the frame, 15-9. UC San Diego held on to its lead down the stretch aided by a pair of aces from McInnes and Baillie and took the opening set, 25-19.
 
The Broncos kept things closed to begin the second set and the teams battled to an 11-10, UC San Diego advantage. The Tritons then put together a five-point scoring run to create distance. With UC San Diego leading, 18-12, WMU responded with a 6-1 scoring run of its own to pull within one point, 19-18. The Tritons outscored WMU 6-1 down the stretch to take the second set, 25-19.
 
The final set began as a back-and-forth battle once again before UC San Diego used a five-point scoring run to lead, 16-7. The Tritons maintained their lead down the stretch, closing out the frame with a four-point run highlighted by back-to-back aces from Hollis to end the match.
 
TRITON TIDBITS

• Ava McInnes was named to the all-tournament team, averaging 3.13 kills and 4.25 points per set. 
• The Tritons outblocked the Broncos, 8-2, and recorded 11 aces compared to three for WMU.
• The contest marks the conclusion of a five-match road trip on the East Coast.
• With the win, the Tritons are now 1-0 in the all-time series with Western Michigan.

UP NEXT
UC San Diego will wrap up its non-conference schedule with the SoCal Cup in Los Angeles. The Tritons will begin the weekend with a neutral match against UNLV hosted in the Galen Center on Sept. 19. UC San Diego will also face off at LMU (Sept. 20) and at USC (Sept. 21). Live broadcast and live statistics information 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.