Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 ROCHESTER, Mich. --- UC Irvine (9-4) posted its second consecutive sweep and has now won six of the last seven matches following a straight-set (25-15, 25-21, 25-22) victory over Bowling Green Saturday morning at the Golden Grizzlies Invitational.
Efficiency continued to be the Anteaters' strength as the team hit .298 while holding the Falcons to a .111 clip. Marisa Bubica hit .423, the second time this year she has reached the .400 plateau and led the team with 13 kills. Shelley Anderson, orchestrating the offense, totaled a match-best 40 assists and had the luxury of two additional targets with Cassidy Pickrell knocking the ball down at a .308 clip and Allison Lee following behind at .292 as both players totaled 11 kills. Arden Davis cleaned up the back row for UCI, picking up a match-best 16 digs.
Unforced errors hurt the Falcons in the first as Bowling Green was held to a negative .026 hitting percentage and the Anteaters capitalized by flying out to a 10-3 lead. BGU would be unable to make a dent in the gap and Pickrell connected with Anderson to shut the door in the first frame.
The Anteaters, hitting .419 in the second, were prevented from building a large lead as they did in the first. Bowling Green out-blocked UCI in the frame, 4-0 to keep the set close. However, UCI grabbed a 12-9 lead on an attack error by Paige O'Connor and stretched the margin to four as Anderson found Pickrell again for a kill. The Falcons picked at the lead and came to within one at 16-15 on a service error by Lee but would come no closer. At 20-19,
Ella Rosenfeld delivered a kill and
Molly Yoder aced O'Connor, forcing Bowling Green to use its final timeout, trailing 22-19. The Falcons were unable to convert out of the break and Lee upped UCI's lead again to four at 23-19. Anderson set the ball up and Pickrell knocked it down again to close out the set.
Bowling Green built a slim 5-2 lead in the third but could not hold off the Anteaters. Leading 10-8 on a service error from Pickrell, UCI scored three unanswered points on kills from Bubica, Lee and Rosenfeld to claim an 11-10 advantage. O'Connor and Kelsey Bates responded with three straight for the Falcons (13-11). Bowling Green looked to be in control, extending the lead to five at 20-15 on a kill from Nicole Slimko. However, the Anteaters used a timeout to regroup and came roaring out of the break by going on a 7-0 run to turn the tide at 22-20. The two sides traded unforced errors before a kill by
Aspen Potter would give UCI the lead for good (23-22). Alyssa Maloney was score for the Falcons on the ensuing play (24-20) and Pickrell completed the sweep with her match-leading third ace.
UCI closes out the tournament against host Oakland today at 4:30 p.m.
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