Nov. 16, 2007

Box Score

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. --- Sophomore Chelsea Ellis was errorless for UC Irvine, recording a .769 hitting percentage (10-0-13) to lead the Anteaters to a 30-26, 30-28, 30-26 sweep of UC Santa Barbara Friday in a Big West Conference match at The Thunderdome. Ellis tied for the sixth in the match records as UCI defeated the Gauchos twice in a season for the first time in program history. The win lifted the Anteaters to 21-9 overall and 11-4 in the Big West while the Gauchos dropped to UCSB to 10-18 (5-10) overall.

Freshman Kari Pestolesi recorded a match-high 17 kills while picking up 12 digs. Junior Lauren Kellerman added 13 kills and libero Devon Sutherland topped all players with 22 digs, recording 20 or more digs for the fourth time in the last six matches. Setter Taryn Robertson handed out 45 assists and Shannan Homan matched a season-high with nine kills while leading the team with four block assists.

UCSB was led by Rebecca Saraceno, who had 12 kills while Leigh Stephenson totaled 21 digs. Setter Dana Vargas had 31 assist and 10 digs in the losing effort.

In game one UC Irvine's opened up a three-point lead at 8-5 but the Gauchos rallied to tie the frame at 8-8 on a kill from Brett Quirarte, who had seven kills in the match. UCSB would claim an 18-14 advantage but UCI mounted a five-point rally to take a 19-18 lead. Neither team was able to hold onto the lead until at 25-25, Ellis put the ball away and then paired up with Homan to block Charlene DeHoog for a two-point edge (27-25). After a Kellerman kill, UCSB followed with two unforced errors to end the set.

The Anteaters took an 8-5 lead in game two and eventually extended the lead to five on a service ace by defensive specialist Caroline Kim, forcing a UCSB timeout at 19-14. At 25-20, UCSB battled its way back into the game, scoring five unanswered points as UCI committed three errors in the rally. With the game tied at 25-25, Quirarte committed a service error and UCSB was called out of rotation on the ensuing play as UCI took a 27-25 edge. Robertson put the ball away on a Pestolesi pass to put UCI up at 29-27 and Robertson went back to Pestolesi for the game-winning point.

In the final set, UCI jumped out to an 8-3 lead and never looked back. The Anteaters' largest lead was nine points at 22-13. UCSB came as close as three points at 29-26 on an attack error from Pestolesi but Homan put the ball away to seal the match.

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