Kekauoha, Frost With Career-Highs To Lead UC Irvine To Sweep Of CSUN
October 31, 2015 | Women's Volleyball
IRVINE, Calif. --- Harlee Kekauoha had a career-high 20 kills and Samantha Frost fired a personal-best five aces in UC Irvine's 25-22, 25-12, 25-23 win over CSUN Saturday night at the Bren Events Center.
Kekauoha limited her errors to just three in 32 attempts to hit .531, her third-best hitting percentage this year. Frost had nearly half of the team's 11 aces as the Anteaters reached double-figures for the second time this year. Marisa Bubica put away eight kills while Ella Rosenfeld chipped in seven with three block assists. Luna Tsujimoto led all players with 15 digs while Shelley Anderson posted 38 assists to go along with eight digs, two blocks, three kills and an ace.
UC Irvine (11-12, 5-6) sped out to a 6-0 lead to open the first set before CSUN (5-17, 4-6) would get on the board with three consecutive points to cut the lead in half. Rosenfeld delivered with a kill down the middle to put UCI ahead by four 7-3 and a roll shot by Aeryn Owens fell wide on the following play as CSUN fell behind by five (8-3). The Matadors chipped at the lead, cutting the deficit to two at 9-7 following a kill that hit the deep corner by Cieana Stinson and then came to within one after an effort by Victoria Dennis fell wide of the sideline. However, UCI built the lead back to four at 18-14 behind Kekauoha, who powered the ball first through and then off the CSUN block for a pair of kills. A CSUN timeout led to back-to-back solo blocks by Nada Dragovic and Rachel Diaz, closing the gap to one once again at 18-17. A Kekauoha kill stopped the Matador rally and Frost aced Alia Casino before Lena Latour slammed a kill down the line as UCI grabbed the 22-18 advantage. Anderson continued UCI's surge with a setter's kill (23-18). After the teams traded a pair of service errors, Anderson was denied at the net (24-21) and Latour flew an attempt long (24-22) but the opposite rebounded by teaming up with Idara Akpakpa to stuff Stinson to end the frame.
The Anteaters put together their best set of the night in the second, using a .480 hitting percentage and holding CSUN to 0.94. UCI jumped out to an 8-2 lead after Chloe Hakim scooped up an attempt by setter Maddie Leiphardt and Bubica converted by hammering a cross-court winner. Kekauoha followed a CSUN timeout with a cross-court shot of her own to continue the Anteater rally (9-2) before Dragovic knocked the ball down the line for the Matadors. UCI pushed ahead, stretching the lead to 10 at 18-8 and never looked back. Following a kill by Dragovic, UCI reeled off five consecutive points with Frost capping the rally with her fourth ace to give UCI a two-set lead.
The two teams hit better than .300 in the third and CSUN took its turn build an early lead at 9-6 as Julie Haake and Aerreola Serna sandwiched an ace by Dragovic. Latour tooled the ball off the Matador block to halt the run and a kill by Kekauoha was followed by Tsujimoto, who dropped a serve inside the 10-foot line for an ace to tie the score at 10-10. Kekauoha gave UCI the lead at 12-11 with a line-drive serve that hit the corner for an ace and the duo of Rosenfeld and Anderson denied Stinson for the 13-11 edge. Rachel Diaz delivered twice for the Matadors, who tied the score at 14-14. UCI was able to pull ahead at 23-23 with Kekauoha putting away a back-row kill for match point. Rosenfeld and Latour delivered the parting shot with a block of Diaz to complete the sweep.
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