Ella Rosenfeld With Career-High Kills, UC Irvine Falls to UC Riverside
November 08, 2012 | Women's Volleyball
IRVINE, Calif. --- Ella Rosenfeld was errorless on the night, hitting .565 and knocked down a career-high 13 kills but UC Irvine fell to UC Riverside, 3-1 (25-23, 26-24, 19-25, 21-25) Thursday night at Crawford Court. The loss dropped the Anteaters to 5-9 (10-18) in the Big West while the Highlanders earned their first conference victory at 1-12 (7-20 overall).
Marisa Bubica led UCI with 15 kills to go along with eight digs while Rosenfeld led the team with four block assists. Marisa Alvarez had 30 assists while Mackenzi Campbell dealt out a career-high 14 assists. Kristin Winkler led all players with 25 digs while Aly Squires and Molly Yoder picked up 12 and 10 digs, respectively.
UCI pulled away early from a 6-6 tie to take a 10-6 lead on a kill from Rosenfeld but the Highlanders rallied behind Ashley Cox, who put away two of her 28 kills as they tied the game at 12-12. At 15-15, the Highlanders scored five consecutive points, with Amanda Vialpando put away three balls in the rally, to lead 20-15. At 24-20 UCI mounted a small rally but a kill by Megan Reza would halt the Anteater run.
It was the Highlanders turn to pull away in the set, taking a 15-10 lead on the blocking error by UCI. However, Campbell found Shannon Fleming, Sydney Wright and Bubica on three straight plays as UCI closed the gap to two at 15-13 to force a UCR timeout. Out of the break, Rosenfeld and Wright paired up to block Cox and Rosenfeld then teamed up with Bubica to deny Jasmin White at the net to tie the score. A diving dig by Campbell led to an off-speed roller by Bubica that landed for a 23-21 UCI lead but a service error by UCI followed by a cross-court kill from Cox knotted the score again. At 24-24, Wright's attempt was stopped at the net and Bubica's line shot hit the antenna as the Highlanders led 2-0.
UCI came out strong in the third set, hitting .310 for the set. The Anteaters took a 12-7 advantage on the block by Bubica and Rosenfeld but the Highlanders responded with three straight points to cut the lead to two at 12-10. Bubica blasted a cross-court shot to halt UCR's run and the Anteaters maintained control the rest of the way. At 21-18, a kill from Bubica was followed by back-to-back unforced errors by the Highlanders. Emily Borges found Cox for the kill to stave off set point but Cox's service error would end the frame.
Neither team was able to gain ground in the final frame and at 17-17, UC Riverside reeled off five straight points to take a 22-17 lead with Cox delivering three kills in the rally. UCI would not recover and it was Cox again to force a ball through the Anteater block to give the Highlanders match point at 24-19. Bubica tooled the ball off UCR's hands on consecutive plays but Borges found Vialpando for the kill to put the match away.
UC Irvine concludes the home schedule this Saturday against Cal State Fullerton at 5:00 p.m.
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