UC Irvine Ends Season With Win Over Akron
Nov. 27, 2010
IRVINE, Calif. --- Head coach Paula Weishoff's Anteaters closed out the season with a 3-1 (25-10, 25-23, 15-25, 25-19) non-conference win over Akron Saturday at Crawford Court.
UCI, which improved to 8-22 on the season, was led by senior Juliane Piggott, who posted a double-double with 15 kills and 11 digs. Freshman Shannon Fleming recorded a career-high 10 kills while committing just one error to hit .529 (10-1-17). Alexandra Hauser posted a season-high .600 hitting percentage, putting away nine of 15 attempts with no errors and libero Kristin Winkler scooped up a match-leading 16 digs while firing a pair of aces. Mary Carls' 42 assists were a career-high for the freshman and she also added eight digs and three block assists in the win.
The Anteaters jumped out to a 15-5 lead in the first frame, using a .440 hitting percentage. UCI committed just three attack errors and secured the set on a kill from Piggott.
Akron edged UCI 15-12 in the second set but the Anteaters used a three-point run to turn a 19-17 deficit into a 20-19 lead on back-to-back kills from Piggott and Kari Pestolesi. Akron responded by scoring the next two points but UCI put together a second three-point run to lead 23-21 and Carls would find Alyssa Squires for the cross-court kill to give UCI a two-set lead.
Akron capped a three-point run with a service ace from Courtney Jarvis to lead 11-7 early in the third set. The Zips then out-scored the Anteaters 5-1 to extend the lead to eight at 16-8 as the Akron block delivered on three consecutive plays, forcing a UCI timeout. The Anteaters would narrow the margin to five at 20-15 but the Zips put the set away with a five-point run.
UCI jumped out to a 6-1 lead in the fourth game and then reeled off four straight to build a 14-5 advantage as Hauser and Carls sent back an attempt by Jackie Goleman. Akron would work its way back into the set, closing the gap to four at 20-16 following a four-point run. However, an attack error by Chazity Bush gave the Anteaters match point and Carls connected with Squires again for the winning point.
