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Women's Volleyball:
No. 19 UC Irvine Toppled by UC Santa Barbara
Oct. 23, 2009 IRVINE, Calif. --- No. 19 UC Irvine's five match win streak was halted as UC Santa Barbara handed the Anteaters a 3-2 (14-25, 25-22, 17-25, 25-22, 19-17) conference loss Friday at Crawford Court. UCI also suffered its first home defeat as the team dropped to 16-4 overall and 6-2 in the Big West. The Gauchos improved to 15-5 (5-3) overall. Kari Pestolesi led UCI with 22 kills and added 20 digs while libero Kristin Winkler recorded a career-high with 26 digs. Juliane Piggott added 16 kills and 16 digs and fired a career-high four aces to lead the Anteaters to a 7-3 edge in service winners. Larissa Nordyke knocked down 11 kills while adding 13 digs. Setter Taryn Robertson totaled 44 assists with 11 digs and Alexandra Hauser tied a season-high with six block assists. UCSB was led by Rebecca Saraceno led all players with 28 kills while Leah Sully chipped in 10 kills and 19 digs. Chelsey Lowe topped the squad with 26 digs and Dana Vargas totaled 49 assists and 16 digs. UCI jumped out to an early lead, reeling off four straight points to lead 13-6 in set No. 1 on Nordyke and Cropper's block on Sully. A five-point run late in the frame by the Anteaters extended the margin to 13 (23-10) and an unforced error by Saraceno would end the set for the Gauchos.
It was UCSB's turn to take the early edge, claiming a 9-5 lead on an attack error by Pestolesi. However, UCI chipped at the lead and used a three-point run to knot the score at 14-14. The two teams traded points until the Gauchos took a two point lead on two UCI errors (19-17) but the Robertson went to Pestolesi and Piggott on consecutive plays to tie the ledger again at 19-19. With UCSB leading 22-21, UCI was unable to knock the ball down and the Gauchos took advantage as Saraceno delivered a cross-court kill for set point and Lowe followed with a service ace to win the frame.
The see-saw battle continued in the third set as UCI used a .353 hitting percentage to take a 2-1 games lead. The Anteaters turned an 11-10 deficit into a 13-11 lead with kills by Piggott and Nordyke sandwiching an error by Saraceno. UCSB pulled to within one at 14-13 but a kill and ace by Piggott was followed by two solo blocks from Pestolesi to give UCI a five-point lead (18-13). The lead widened to seven points following Robertson's kill (24-17) and Robertson then hit Pestolesi for the kill and the win. The two teams kept the fourth set close. UCI held a slim two-point edge at 16-14 following an Anteater block on Saraceno but Vargas found Kipp and Schmidt on consecutive plays to tie the score at 16 points apiece. At 17-17, Hauser slammed a ball down the middle and was followed by two unforced UCSB errors for a 20-17 UCI lead. However, the margin closed quickly as Lopez denied Hauser at the net and then teamed up with Stacey Schmidt to block Pestolesi and tie the match at 20-20. Saraceno gave UCSB the 23-22 lead and delivered again at set point to force a game five. In the final set, UCSB prompted the side change at 8-4 following a four-point run as Saraceno, Schmidt and Sully all delivered for the Gauchos. UCSB led 11-8 and then again at 13-10 but the Anteaters battled, catching the Gauchos at 14-14 on a service winner by Piggott, who lofted a ball into the back corner. The teams pushed the set into extra points and with the score knotted at 17, Cropper was called for the blocking error and Vargas connected with Saraceno for the game-winner. |
