UC San Diego

LAS VEGAS—UC San Diego women's volleyball defeated Southeastern Louisiana in straight sets, 25-16, 25-19, 25-21, on Saturday morning to open the Rebel Challenge. The Tritons (4-6) finished with 42 kills and hit .209 while holding the Lions (3-10) to 27 kills and a .051 hitting percentage.
 
Ireland McNees led the Tritons with 15 kills and 17.0 points while adding 11 digs and two blocks. Molly McCluskey finished with 12 kills, six digs and 13.5 points. Marleena Catalan recorded a team-high 18 assists and added a service ace, while Maija Nepszy tallied 13 assists and two blocks. Paulina Baillie collected three service aces and seven digs. Madison Johnson registered eight kills compared to just one error on 14 swings for a .500 hitting percentage and tied Kaliya Ndiaye for the team lead with three blocks. 
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
The teams battled to an 8-8 tie in the opening set, trading the momentum early on. The Tritons broke open the tight first set by winning seven of eight rallies from 16-14 to 23-15. Baillie served four straight points during that stretch, including an ace, as the Tritons moved ahead 20-14. McNees added late kills, and the Tritons finished the set 25-16.
 
The Tritons turned the second set with an early 8-0 run after trailing 4-3, moving ahead 11-4 with McNees serving for seven points of the burst. McCluskey and Madison Johnson each had multiple kills during that stretch, while McNees added a service ace. The Lions later pulled within 23-19, but McNees answered with a kill before the Tritons closed the set 25-19 on an attack error.
 
After trailing 9-8 in the third set, the Tritons put together a 7-1 scoring run to move ahead 15-10 behind McNees kills and a block by Johnson and Nepszy. The Lions later closed within 20-18, but the Tritons answered with McCluskey kills and a Baillie service ace to reach set point. McCluskey finished the 25-21 set with a kill from Catalan to secure the sweep.
 
TRITON TIDBITS

• Ireland McNees recorded her third double-double of the season.
• UC San Diego held the advantage in hitting percentage (.209 to .051), service aces (6-1), kills (42-27) and digs (44-34). SLU had the slight edge in blocks (8-6).
• The Tritons are 2-0 in three-set matches this season.
• UC San Diego is now 1-0 in the all-time series with Southeastern Louisiana.

 
UP NEXT
UC San Diego will wrap up its non-conference schedule against UNLV on Sunday at 1 p.m. The game will be streamed to subscribers on Mountain West+ 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.