HONOLULU—UC San Diego women's volleyball fell to Hawai'i in the Tritons' second consecutive five-set match on Sunday evening in Stan Sheriff Center. The Tritons (2-4) won the first and third sets in the final match of the Outrigger Invitational, but the Rainbow Wahine (4-2) took the final two sets in a 25-22, 15-25, 25-21, 24-26, 8-15 result.
Gia Rivera totaled 17.5 points with 15 kills and four total blocks.
Molly McCluskey finished with 17.0 points, recording 14 kills, two service aces and 13 digs.
Marleena Catalan posted 36 assists and 10 digs for her first double-double.
Paulina Baillie collected 15 digs and added seven assists, while
Yasemin Elmas led the Tritons with four blocks and added six kills.
HOW IT HAPPENED
In the opening set, the Tritons cut into an early 9-4 deficit with a Hawai'i service error, an Elmas kill and a
Lucia Barroso ace. UC San Diego won seven of eight rallies after a 17-17 tie, reaching set point at 24-18 on consecutive
Ireland McNees kills from Catalan. UH scored four straight points late, but a service error closed the Tritons' 25-22 first-set win.
The Tritons opened the second set with a McCluskey kill, but the Bows answered by moving from a 1-1 tie to a 7-1 lead. Rivera and
Madison Johnson helped the Tritons find points later in the set, while McCluskey added two more kills after the early stretch. However, the deficit proved too much and the Rainbow Wahine closed the set 25-15 to even the match at one set apiece.
The teams traded points to an 18-18 tie before the Tritons scored four of the next five points. Kills from Rivera and Elmas and a block by Elmas and McCluskey helped UC San Diego move in front 22-19. After UH got within 23-21, Barroso put down a kill from Catalan and McNees followed with another kill to finish the set 25-21.
The Tritons answered a 13-11 fourth-set deficit with four straight points, with Rivera recording two kills and combining with Barroso on a block to move in front 15-13.
Dillyn Griffin's service ace later gave the Tritons a 20-18 edge, but the Bows went ahead 24-23 late aided by four Triton serving errors. Barroso's kill tied the set at 24-24 before the Rainbow Wahine scored the final two points to take it 26-24.
Hawai'i carried all the momentum into the fifth set, building a comfortable 10-point lead behind aggressive serving. The Tritons' fifth-set push came after UH reached set point at 14-4, with
Jaedyn Houston serving four straight points. Rivera and Elmas combined on a block during that stretch, and the Tritons moved to 14-8 before the Bows closed the set, 15-8, and the match, 3-2.
TRITON TIDBITS
- Molly McCluskey tallied her fourth double-double of the season. She was named to the Outrigger Invitational All-Tournament Team after averaging 3.89 points, 3.21 kills and 2.07 digs, with 10 total blocks and four service aces for the weekend.
- Freshman Gia Rivera recorded a career-high 15 kills and 17.5 points, leading the Tritons in both categories for the first time.
- Marleena Catalan set a new career high with 36 assists and 10 digs for her first career double-double.
- It was the second consecutive five-set match of the season for the Tritons, who are now 0-2.
- UC San Diego is now 0-12 in the all-time series with Hawai'i.
UP NEXT
The Tritons will travel to the Southwest for three matches at the Borderland Classic, hosted jointly at New Mexico State and UTEP. UC San Diego will face NMSU in Las Cruces, N.M. on Sept. 11, before traveling to El Paso, Texas for the remaining two matches against UTEP (Sept. 12) and Pacific (Sept. 13). Streaming 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.
