Oct. 17, 2009

Box Score

IRVINE, Calif. --- The 21st-ranked Anteaters kept their home record intact at 7-0 as UC Irvine swept UC Riverside 25-13, 27-25, 25-20 Saturday at Crawford Court. UCI has now won five straight to improve to 16-3 overall and 6-1 in the Big West.

The Anteaters were led by Kari Pestolesi, who belted a season-high .440 hitting percentage while putting away 13 kills. The junior outside hitter also fired a pair of aces while picking up 12 digs. Riley Cropper was even more efficient, boasting a .533 percentage while recording nine kills and three blocks. Juliane Piggott put away six kills while Kristin Winkler topped all players with 13 digs. Taryn Robertson totaled 38 assists for UCI.

UC Riverside (2-15, 0-7) was led by Dominique Cowling, who had 12 kills while Bianca Endersby added 10 kills and a match-high five block assists. Tonbara Youpele led the team with eight digs and Brittney Murrey handed out 27 assists.

It was all UCI in the first set as the Anteaters jumped out to a 10-5 lead and never looked back. The Anteaters went on a 7-1 run to close out the frame. Pestolesi led the team with five kills and while Cropper and Larissa Nordyke added four kills apiece.

UC Riverside jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the second set, combining a pair of UCI errors with kills from Cowling and Endersby. UCI cut the lead to one at 7-6 on Piggott's cross-court kill but the Highlanders responded with a four points to take an 11-6. UCI used a 7-2 run to catch the UCR at 13-13 and the two teams would trade points until the Highlanders scored three straight to edge away from a 19-19 tie and take a 22-19 advantage. The Highlanders had set point at 25-24 but Cowling's serve on the next play went into the net and Robertson put the ball away on the assist from Lauren Souto to give UCI a 26-25 edge. Kelly Simpson's attack error went long for the Highlanders, ending the frame.

The Anteaters looked to have the match in hand, taking an early 11-5 lead on a UCR attack error but the Highlanders scored five consecutive points to trim the lead to one at 12-11 on a kill from Shelby LeDuff. Robertson and Cropper paired up for the key block on Cowling, ending the Highlander run (13-11) and UCI pulled away and claimed a 20-14 lead on back-to-back kills by Pestolesi. Robertson found McCall Miller to give UCI match point at 24-18 and it was Miller again with the kill to seal the win.

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