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Women's Volleyball:
No. 23 UC Irvine Unseated by UC Davis
Oct. 30, 2009
DAVIS, Calif. --- No. 23 UC Irvine was unseated from atop of the Big West standings following a 3-1 (25-22, 17-25, 25-18, 25-22) loss to UC Davis Friday at Upper Hickey Gym. The Anteaters suffered their first-ever loss to the Aggies, falling to 11-1 in the series records and 7-3 (17-5 overall) in Big West matches. UC Davis claimed sole possession of first place with an 8-2 (17-7) conference mark. Kari Pestolesi led all players with 22 kills while Juliane Piggott chipped in nine. Riley Cropper and Taryn Robertson each added seven kills and Robertson handed out 45 assists and eight digs. Kristin Winkler recorded a team-high 17 digs while Piggott and Alexandra Hauser led all players with five block assists apiece. Three Aggies reached double-figure kills, led by Kayla Varney, who put away 15. Alison Whitson added 14 while Katie Denny totaled 10 kills. Avreeta Singh scooped up a match-high 19 digs while Carson Lowden had 47 assists in the win. The first set was a see-saw battle until at 16-16, UCI went on a 4-1 run to take a 20-17 lead. However, UC Davis responded with a 5-1 run to take a 21-20 edge on Whitson's kill. Larissa Nordyke's kill tied the score but the Aggies reeled off the final three points to take the first frame.
The Anteaters jumped out to an 11-7 lead in the second set on a kill from Cropper but the Aggies sliced the lead to one at 13-12 as Melanie Adams and Betsy Sedlak teamed up to block Piggott at the net. Three UCI kills and an error by UC Davis opened the Anteater lead to four at 17-13 and Winkler's service aces gave the team its largest lead of the match at 23-15. Robertson connected with Pestolesi for game point and it was Pestolesi again to deliver the final kill.
An early 10-7 lead by UC Davis was erased by the Anteaters, who scored four straight to take an 11-10 edge in the third frame. However, three Aggies put-aways saw UCI trail 17-14. A kill from Varney and an Anteater service error force a UCI timeout at 20-16. UCI came to within three points (20-17) on Nordyke's kill but Sedlak delivered twice in the Aggies' final three-point run to take a 2-1 set lead. UC Davis stormed out to an 8-2 lead in the final set and then added a three-point run to widen the margin to 11-3 on an ace by Adams. UCI rallied to cut the lead to four at 15-11 on a kill from Cropper. A late five-point run by the Anteaters closed the deficit to two points at 23-21 but a service error gave UC Davis match point and following a kill by UCI, Lowden found Varney for the match-ending point. |
