Women's Volleyball:

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Nov. 24, 2008

ANTEATERS PLACES SECOND: UC Irvine (17-12 overall, 12-4 Big West) defeated UC Santa Barbara in five sets and Cal Poly 3-1 to finish second in the Big West, posting their highest finish since 2003. The Anteaters’ 12 wins tie the most conference victories in UCI history

THE STANDINGS: Long Beach State clinched the league title with a 13-3 record with the Anteaters finishing second at 12-4. Cal Poly came in third at 11-5 while Pacific finished fourth at 10-6. Cal State Fullerton posted a fifth-place finish at 9-7 while UC Santa Barbara was sixth at 7-9. UC Davis (4-12), Cal State Northridge (3-13) and UC Riverside (3-13) round out the league standings.

POST-SEASON POSSIBILITY: The Anteaters, who won 10 of their last 12 matches, will have to wait until Nov. 30 for a possible at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament. The Big West Conference has never had less than two teams advance to the post-season. The selection show is scheduled for 7:00 – 7:30 PM (PT) on ESPNU.

PESTOLESI EARNS SHARE OF WEEKLY HONOR: Kari Pestolesi (Huntington Beach/Edison HS) was named co-Big West Player of the Week after leading UC Irvine to a pair of wins as the Anteaters placed second in the Big West, their best finish since 2003. Pestolesi combined for 35 kills and 47 digs in nine sets. Against UCSB, the sophomore standout put away 17 kills and 28 digs, her second-best dig effort of the season. She also added a service ace to total a team-high 35 on the season. The win gave UCI its’ fourth consecutive win over the Gauchos. Against the Mustangs, Pestolesi recorded a team-high 18 kills while picking up 19 digs. Pestolesi hit at a .366 clip, committing just three errors in 41 attempts, for her second-highest hitting percentage this year.

On the season, Pestolesi leads the team with 373 kills and a 3.59 per-set average. She is the leader in aces with 35 and second in digs with 348 and a 3.35 average.

FILKINS REGISTERS CAREER-HIGHS: Junior Alexandra Filkins (Seal Beach/Los Alamitos HS) recorded her best performance to date, recording 16 kills and 18 digs in the win against Cal Poly, both career-highs for the outside hitter. Filkins, belted a .429 hitting percentage against the Mustangs.

THE FILKINS STREAK: Filkins put together a strong conference season, recording or tying personal-highs seven of the eight weeks of Big West play. Filkins began the streak with eight digs against UC Riverside to open league play and then posted 11 pick-ups against CSUN the next week. The following weekend Filkins put away 11 kills against Pacific and 13 digs against UC Davis. She tied her then-personal high of 11 kills against Cal Poly the following week. She was held without a career-high against UC Riverside but posted recorded 14 digs against CSF and 12 kills against CSUN in week six. In the seventh week, Filkins tied her best with 12 kills against UCSB before registering 16 kills and 18 digs in the final week.

Filkins is fourth on the team with 140 kills and fifth with 178 digs. She also recorded 34 total blocks and seven service aces for the Anteaters.

HOMAN HITS CAREER-BEST AGAINST UCSB: Senior Shannan Homan (Placentia/Wake Forest) also came up with a career-high with 16 kills against UCSB. Homan had just two errors in 33 attempts for a .424 hitting percentage.

On the season, Homan is third on the team with 208 kills and second with 69 total blocks with 64 block assists and five solo blocks.

IN THE RECORD BOOKS: Devon Sutherland (Corona/Santiago HS) posted 454 digs to claim the No. 4 spot in the UCI season records. Sutherland holds the second through fourth spots in the season records and is the career leader in digs with 1,756. Sutherland also fired 21 aces this season to total 115 and moves into the No. 5 spot in the career annals. Sutherland also etched her name in the match records with 31 digs against UC Santa Barbara to tie for second.

Setter Taryn Robertson (Valencia/HS) posted 1,175 assists this season to take over the seventh spot in the season records, passing Teri Zartman, who totaled 1,076 in 1998. In three seasons Robertson is already second in the career record books with 3,756, sitting behind Ashlie Hain’s four-year total of 5,698 (2001-04). Robertson, who is the team leader in blocks with 62, also owns the No. 8 spot with 215 career block assists. This season, Robertson is the lone Anteater to reach double-digits in solo blocks with 11.

Lauren Kellerman (Escondido/HS) has amassed 1,584 kills and is third in the records. The senior is also second with 4,612 career attempts, passing Popi Edwards, who recorded 4,013 from 1992-95. Kellerman also has accumulated 115 service aces to tie for fifth in the annals with Sutherland. Kellerman can also be spotted in career digs with 961 to sit ninth.

Pestolesi can be found in the match records after recording 29 digs against Long Beach State to tie for sixth and 28 against UC Santa Barbara to tie for eighth.

ANTEATERS IN THE BIG WEST: Taryn Robertson concludes the regular season as the league leader in assist average at 11.08. Devon Sutherland is third in digs at 4.28 while Kari Pestolesi is fourth in kills at 3.59 and remains third in aces at 0.34. Lauren Kellerman fell one spot to eighth in kill average at 3.32 while Alexandra Filkins rose one spot to seventh with a .272 hitting percentage.

As a team, the Anteaters own the top spots in the league in assist average (13.02) kills (14.07) and digs (15.77). They climbed to second hitting percentage at .235.

UCI IN THE NATION: Taryn Robertson is 23rd in the nation in assist average while Kari Pestolesi is 80th in kill average. Devon Sutherland is 93rd in dig average. As a team UCI is 20th in assist average, 20th in kills per set, 58th in dig average and 71st in hitting percentage.

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 went 2-0 in the final weekend of Big West action, defeating UC Santa Barbara in five sets and Cal Poly, 3-1.

Kellerman paced the Anteaters with 19 kills against the Gauchos. Pestolesi added 17 kills and 28 digs while Sutherland picked up a career-high 31 digs. Homan and Filkins added 16 and 10 kills, respectively. Filkins posted her first double-double of the season with 13 digs and reached a personal-high with two aces.

Robertson had a stellar performance against Cal Poly as the setter put-away a career-high nine kills while dishing out 58 assists. Pestolesi paced the team with 18 kills and 19 digs while Filkins added 16 kills and 18 digs. Homan put in 11 kills while Kellerman was one dig shy of a double-double with 10 kills and nine digs.

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