UC Irvine
UC Santa Barbara
Anteaters Felled By Cal Poly In Five
November 06, 2015 | Women's Volleyball
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. --- UC Irvine pushed third-place Cal Poly to five sets but struggled in the final frame as the Anteaters lost 19-25, 25-19, 25-22, 22-25, 15-10 Friday night at Mott Athletics Center.
A solid effort saw four Anteater players reach double-figure kills, led by Harlee Kekauoha, who put away 18. Marisa Bubica knocked down 15 kills while Victoria Dennis totaled 12 kills to go along with a team-leading five block assists. Ella Rosenfeld committed just one error in 22 swings and had 11 kills to hit a .455 while posting three block assists. Shelley Anderson orchestrated the offense with a career-high 61 assists and added 10 digs for a double-double while Luna Tsujimoto led all players with 20 digs.
UCI burst out of the gate with a .368 hitting percentage while holding Cal Poly to a .154 clip. The Anteaters took an 11-5 lead on back-to-back unforced errors by Taylor Nelson and Raeanne Greisen. Dennis and Lena Latour blocked Taylor Gruenewald at 18-12 and UCI never looked back, securing the first set on a kill from Dennis, who tooled the ball off the Mustang block.
Cal Poly rebounded in the second with a .471 hitting percentage but the Anteaters managed to keep pace with the Mustangs. At 11-11, Anderson found Kekauoha for a kill and the freshman delivered on the next play by acing Katherine Brouker to give UCI a two-point edge. A pair of kills by Latour stretched the lead to three at 17-14 but the Mustangs answered by going on a 6-0 run to grab a 20-17 lead. That was the push the Mustangs needed and UCI was unable to counter as Cal Poly rode the arm of Adlee Van Winden, who had five kills, including the set-winner to tie the match.
The third set mirrored the second but it was Cal Poly's turn to establish the first lead at 14-10 after an attack error by Rosenfeld, her only one of the match. A UCI timeout came at the right time and the Anteaters chipped at the deficit to come to within one at 15-14 on a Van Winden service error. That would be as close UCI would come. The Mustangs edged out to a three-point lead at 19-16 on an attack error by Dennis and Cal Poly would go on to take a 2-1 set lead on a kill from Nelson.
A kill by Dennis in the fourth sparked a five-point run by the Anteaters, who built a 16-10 lead with Tsujimoto acing the Mustangs twice in the run. Cal Poly responded with four straight points to cut the lead to two at 17-15 on an attack error by Kekauoha. However, UCI edged out again to a three-point margin on kills from Bubica and Rosenfeld (19-16). The teams traded points until Kekauoha tooled the ball off the block to force a fifth frame.
Cal Poly stampeded out to a 6-1 lead in the fifth. The Anteaters struggled, hitting .143 in the set and were stymied by the Mustang block. Rosenfeld and Anderson teamed up to deny Greisen as UCI came as close as two (7-5) but that would be all. Samantha Frost's service error was followed by a kill from Greisen to give Cal Poly a four-point margin (9-5). Van Winden delivered on two straight plays (13-8) and the end of the match would be marked by three straight attack errors.
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