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Women's Volleyball:
UC Irvine Travels to No. 25 Long Beach State, UC Santa Barbara
Nov. 10, 2008
UCI TRAVELS TO LBSU, UCSB: UC Irvine (14-11 overall, 9-3 Big West) puts its five-match win streak on the line when the Anteaters travel to 25th-ranked Long Beach State Wednesday (Nov. 12) and UC Santa Barbara Saturday (Nov. 15). Both matches are slated for 7:00 p.m. starts. THE STANDINGS: UC Irvine climbed to second in the Big West with a 9-3 record while Long Beach State tops the league at 10-2 (21-4). Cal Poly dropped to third at 8-4 following a tough five-set loss to the 49ers. Pacific is fourth at 8-5 while Cal State Fullerton sits fifth at 7-6. UCSB is sixth with a .500 mark of 6-6 while UC Davis (4-9), UC Riverside (3-9) and CSUN (1-12) round out the conference standings. ON THE AIR: Wednesday‘s match against Long Beach State will be broadcast on the Internet with Rob Espero calling the action. Click on UC Irvine Listen Live page to access the webcast. REUSE YOUR SHOES: The Women’s Volleyball Team, in honor of America Recycles Day, is hosting the Reuse-A-Shoe Drive. From November 8th through the 22nd, used tennis shoes can be dropped off at select campus locations or brought into a sponsored location to receive a free ticket to the UCI Women‘s Volleyball home game for each pair donated. The shoes will be donated and later recycled to create new sport tops for children and communities in need. Shoes with metal or spikes will not be accepted. Campus Locations: All Campus Housing Complexes, The Anteater Recreation Center, The UCI Bookstore Sponsored Locations: For more information, please contact Sarah Maxwell at smaxwell@uci.edu. PESTOLESI PACES UCI TO A PAIR OF WINS: Outside hitter Kari Pestolesi (Huntington Beach/Edison HS) posted two double-doubles and belted a combined .333 in two matches to lead UC Irvine to a pair of 3-1 wins and lift the Anteaters to second in the Big West Conference race.
Against UC Davis, Pestolesi shared the match-high with 16 kills, committing just four errors in 37 attempts for a .324 average, matching the sophomore‘s second-best performance this season. She was the only other Anteater to register double-figure digs with 14 and added a service ace in the win. Against Pacific Pestolesi totaled a season-high 19 kills to lead all players, hitting .341 (19-4-44) as well as tying a season-high with four block assists. Pestolesi picked up 13 digs for her 17th double-double match of the year and registered her eighth straight match of at least one ace. FILKINS’ STREAK EXTENDS TO SIX: Junior Alexandra Filkins (Seal Beach/Los Alamitos HS) registered her sixth straight week of recording or matching a career-high. Filkins put away a personal-best 13 kills in the win against UC Davis, hitting .400 in the process. The outside hitter logged just three errors in 25 attempts. Currently Filkins is fourth on the team with 97 kills and 1.35 average She has logged 130 digs and 25 total blocks for the Anteaters. HAUSER RECORDS PERSONAL-BEST: Alexandra Hauser (Chino Hills/Ayala HS) total eight kills for a personal-best to help UCI to a win against Pacific. The redshirt freshman also had four block assists and two digs in the win. On the season Hauser has 73 kills and 46 total blocks. ANTEATERS REGISTER SEASON-HIGH BLOCK ASSISTS: A strong performance at the net led to a 3-1 win over Pacific last week. UCI out-blocked the Tigers with a season-high 23 block assists, en route to a 11.5 to 5 block advantage. Junior Chelsea Ellis (Los Angeles/Brentwood HS) led the team with five block assists, her second-highest total this year. Hauser and Pestolesi each put up four block assists piece. ROBERTSON NEARING 1000: Setter Taryn Robertson (Valencia/HS) has amassed 968 assists and is looking to reach the 1000-assist plateau this week. Robertson, who is leading the Big West with an 11.00 set average already holds the fourth-best mark in the UCI season records with 1,450 assists (2007). ROBERTSON DOES IT ALL: The junior has developed into a complete player for UCI. Robertson leads the team with 62 total blocks, including nine solo blocks for a team-high. She is fourth on the team with 11 service aces and is fifth with 93 kills and a 1.06 average. 49ER FACTS: No. 25 Long Beach State is riding a seven-match win streak and boasts an 11-1 home record. LBSU will look to avenge a 3-1 loss against the Anteaters recorded earlier this season at Crawford Court. The Beach is paced by Quincy Verdin‘s 299 kills and 3.15 per-set average. Naomi Washington tops the team with 99 total blocks while Iris Murray holds the team-high in digs with 383. Nicole Vargas has dished out 960 assists and has registered 27 aces. Long Beach State is putting the ball away at a .248 clip and holding the opposition to a .151 hitting percentage. THE SERIES: LBSU dominates the all-time series against UCI at 56-7. The last time the Anteaters captured a win at the Pyramid was in 2003. GAUCHO GOSSIP: UC Santa Barbara is 10-13 overall and 6-6 in the Big West. The Gauchos suffered a pair of losses to Pacific and Long Beach State in conference action last week. UCSB is paced by Lauren McLaughlin, who has 278 kills and a 3.43 average. Kasey Kipp has 91 total blocks to lead the team while Leigh Stephenson holds the high in digs with 349. Dana Vargas has 683 assists for the team. THE SERIES: UC Irvine trails 59-6 in the all-time series against UCSB. ANTEATERS IN THE BIG WEST: Taryn Robertson remains the league leader in assist average at 11.00. Devon Sutherland is currently third in digs at 4.16 while Kari Pestolesi is third in kills (3.64) and service aces (0.37). Alexandra Filkins leapt to seventh in hitting percentage at .272 while Lauren Kellerman is eight with a 3.26 kill average. As a team, the Anteaters own the top spots in the league in assist average (13.00), kills (14.06) and digs (15.27). They are second in hitting percentage at .239 and trail Long Beach State (.248). UCI IN THE NATION: Taryn Robertson is 27th among the NCAA leaders in assist average while Kari Pestolesi is 75th in kill average and 89th in aces. As a team UCI is 20th in kills per set, 21st in assist average, 60th in hitting percentage and 81st in dig average. ANTEATER ALUMNAE ON KARCH’S KRONICLES: Former Anteaters Ashlie Hain, Whitney Pavlik and Kelly Wing will appear on “Karch‘s Khronicles” on FOX SPORTS WEST and PRIME TICKET. In the two-minute segments designed to enhance Pac-10 volleyball coverage, Olympic Gold medalist Karch Kiraly will explain offensive systems, defensive coverage and coaching strategies using former players from UC Irvine and Irvine Valley College to demonstrate the drills. Please check the local listings for more information. WEEKEND WRAPUP: UC Irvine extended its win streak to five after defeating both UC Davis and Pacific in four sets. Against the Aggies, Pestolesi put up a double-double with 16 kills and 14 digs while Sutherland recorded 20 digs to lead all players. Filkins’ career-high 13 kills were matched by Kellerman, who also poured in 13. Robertson dealt out 50 assists and led the team with four total blocks. Against the Tigers, Pestolesi registered a season-high with 19 kills while Kellerman added 12. Five Anteaters reached double-figures in digs with Kellerman pacing the team with 15 as UCI edge UOP 65-60 in scoops. |
