Anteaters Lose to UC Santa Barbara
November 08, 2014 | Women's Volleyball
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. --- Arielle Manz was one kill shy of tying a season-high and hit .611 for the match but UC Irvine was unable to handle the Gauchos, losing 3-1 (25-23, 25-16, 15-25, 25-17) Saturday at the Thunderdome.
Manz put away 11 of 18 attempts with no errors while Marisa Bubica posted a match-high 16 kills in the effort. Allison Lee had 13 digs and but she and Cassidy Pickrell were held to just five kills apiece.
The Gauchos jumped out to a 10-6 lead in the first on the block by Phoebe Grunt and Ali Barbeau and extended the lead to seven (15-9) on a service error by Pickrell. However, UCI rallied for five consecutive points to cut the lead to one at 15-14 as Bubica delivered the solo block on Chanel Hoffman and UCI would tie the match at 16-16 on an unforced error by Jaylen Villanueva. The Gauchos went right back to Villanueva, who delivered a kill on the next play to spark a 5-0 run with Hoffman acing the Anteaters on back-to-back serves (21-16) to cap the rally. Hoffman's next serve went for an error and UCI capitalized with a 4-1 run to close the gap to 22-21 as Hannah Nabbout aced Hoffman. Consecutive kills from Ella Rosenfeld tied the set one last time (23-23) before the Gauchos would get kills from Ali Barbeau and Britton Taylor to take the first frame.
UCSB's momentum carried over in the second frame as the Gauchos sped out to an 8-2 lead. Hitting .308 in the set, the Gauchos seemed to cruise but UCI chipped at the gap to eventually whittle down the deficit to two at 12-10 on a kill by Shelley Anderson. UCSB managed to hold off the Anteaters and would never lose the lead. At 15-11, the Gauchos used a 5-0 run to establish a 20-11 margin and would go on to win the set on a service error.
UCI took advantage of the extended break and jumped out to a 7-1 lead in the third. Hitting .265, the Anteaters held the Gauchos to a .077 hitting percentage in the frame with Manz and Emily Blair pairing up to provide two early blocks. Blair distributed the ball to four different UCI hitters to keep the Gauchos at bay but UCSB would eventually close the margin to two at 14-12. That would be as close as the Gauchos would get as the Anteaters outscored UCSB 10-2 to take an insurmountable 24-14 lead and avoided the sweep on a kill from Manz.
The two teams battled in the fourth with UCSB claiming the first significant advantage at 12-9 on a kill from Ali Spindt. UCI was hampered by a .040 hitting percentage while the Gauchos logged their best offensive effort at .345 but the Anteaters managed to stay within two points until a three-point rally by the Gauchos opened the match at 17-12. The UCI block of Rosenfeld and Bubica cut the gap to three at 20-17 but UCSB used a timeout and answered by scoring the final five points to end the match.
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