UC Irvine Finishes Fifth In Big West
December 01, 2015 | Women's Volleyball
- UC Irvine, under first-year head coach Ashlie Hain, finished fifth in the Big West at 7-9 and 13-15 overall.
- The fifth-place finish is the second straight for the Anteater program.
- The team won back-to-back matches three times this year.
- The Anteaters collected a win over No. 21 San Diego for its lone win over a top 25 team.
KEKAUOHA, ROSENFELD NAMED ALL-BIG WEST
- Harlee Kekauoha and Ella Rosenfeld earned All-Big West Conference honors.
- Kekauoha was voted to the first team and all-freshman team.
- Rosenfeld was selected as an honorable mention.
- Kekauoha finished the year ranked in the Big West in hitting percentage with a .303 clip (9th), kills at 3.33 (6th) and aces with a .30 average (5th).
- She posted a single-match hitting percentage of .750 against Seattle to tie the eighth-best mark in the Anteater annals.
- Rosenfeld ranked fifth in hitting in the conference with a .322 percentage.
- The middle blocker totaled 249 block assists in four years to finish 11th in the UCI career record books.
BUBICA MAKES MARK IN RECORD BOOKS
- Marisa Bubica will leave UCI ranked ninth in career attack attempts with 3,098.
- The outside hitter struggled with injuries in her senior campaign but remained one of the program's top offensive threats.
- Bubica amassed 1,158 kills in four years to finish ninth and also had 157 block assists to fall just outside of the Anteater top 20.
- Bubica also sat ninth in the Big West in kills with a 2.91 average.
ANDERSON FINISHES THIRD IN ANTEATER ANNALS
- Shelley Anderson handed out 821 assists in 2015, bringing her career total to 3,045 to finish the year third in the UCI career records.
- She sits behind all-time leader Ashlie Hain (2001-04), who dished out 5,698 and Taryn Robertson (2006-09) who accumulated 4,900 assists.
- Anderson averaged 9.44 per set to place fourth in the conference.
- She was fourth on the team with 17 aces and 167 digs.
ARDEN MOVES UP IN DIG RECORDS; IS NITORI SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENT
- Arden Davis totaled 202 digs this year, including a season-best 23 against LSU.
- With the effort, Davis moves up the ladder to seventh in the records with 1,094 career digs.
- Davis passed Keegan Featherstone's (2002-05) total of 1,046.
- This year Davis was also the recipient of the Nitori Scholarship, awarded to seven students, whose study is focused on Business, Economics, Marketing, Communication and/or Accounting.
TSUJIMOTO RANKS AMONG BEST WEST BEST
- Luna Tsujimoto anchored the back row for the Anteaters in 2015, scooping up 428 digs.
- She inked her name in the UCI single-season records, grabbing the No. 12 spot from head coach Ashlie Hain, who had 419 digs in 2003.
- The sophomore transfer was fourth in the Big West with a 4.04 average.
- She was one of four conference players to reach the 4.00 dig mark this year.
DENNIS HAS BREAKOUT SEASON
- Victoria Dennis finished second on the team with 277 kills and 10th in the conference with a 2.83 average.
- The outside hitter had seen action in 2012 and 2014 but competed in 96 of 106 sets this year for her best year at UCI.
- Dennis led the team with 16 solo blocks and was third in total blocks with 56.
- She recorded a career-high 22 kills against LSU and a personal-high seven total blocks in the win against San Diego.
AKPAKPA TOPS TEAMS IN BLOCKING AVERAGE
- Idara Akpakpa led UCI with a .90 blocking average.
- The freshman totaled 11 solo blocks and 69 block asssists.
- Akpakpa recorded a career-high eight total blocks against UCF and Hawaii and knocked down a season-high 11 kills against CS Fullerton.
BLAIR SEES DOUBLE THE ACTION
- Emily Blair doubled the matches played, going from 12 to 24 in one year.
- Blair recorded 338 assists this season while recording 62 digs and two aces.
- The sophomore also more than doubled the number of block assists with 13.
- She recorded a career-high 49 assists against Idaho with a personal-best nine digs against UC Davis and five blocks at Hawaii.
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