On Friday night at Cal State San Bernardino, the second-ranked UCSD women’s volleyball team began the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division II Pacific Regional Championship after its first-round bye and swept No. 3 Western Washington in three straight games: 30-27, 30-21 and 30-16, respectively.
In this semifinal regional match, Triton senior co-captains Kathleen Hentz and Laura Santerre buried 13 and 10 kills, respectively. Hentz, an All-California Collegiate Athletic Association First Team selection, played an amazing game and finished with four blocks and a .500 hitting percentage.
CCAA Freshman of the Year and All CCAA-Second Team member Teresa Ohta had 35 assists and a match-high 24 digs.
Junior Jennie Wilson added five kills, 10 digs and four blocks to the victory while freshman Stacy Dunsmore contributed 12 kills and eight digs. The Tritons outblocked the Vikings eight to two and managed a .301 to .132 hitting advantage over Western Washington.
Vikings Shannon Rowland and Meghan Evoy each had 11 kills in the loss, while setter Liz Bishop amassed 31 assists and eight digs.
“”Western Washington came out and played very well,”” commented UCSD head coach Duncan McFarland. “”They put a lot of pressure on us in the first game. We struggled a little bit, but we worked hard and got back into our own rhythm.””
With the loss, the 24-5 Vikings ended their season ranked 21st in the nation. Seventeenth-ranked UCSD, on the other hand, advanced to Saturday’s Division II Pacific Regional Final against No. 1-seeded host Cal State San Bernardino.
The Tritons entered the final match on a seven-game winning streak and hoped to continue their success against the 29-2 Coyotes.
In front of a 1,068-person crowd, UCSD battled with CSUSB for five games and ultimately triumphed over the Coyotes 3-2 with game scores of 20-30, 30-26, 22-30, 31-29 and 17-15.
Outside hitter Jennie Wilson stepped up for the Tritons and led UCSD with 21 kills, 21 digs and four blocks. Ohta accumulated 54 assists, 11 digs, and three kills in the winning effort.
On the other side of the net, Coyote senior setter Amy Pope had 60 assists and two solo blocks on the night. Sophomores Kim Ford and Kim Morohunfola had a combined 38 kills in the five-game struggle.
The fourth and fifth games proved to be incredibly competitive as the Tritons won by only slight margins in each of these two final games. Appropriately, Santerre served up an ace in what was the final point of the match to win the title for UCSD.
“”We created some opportunities at the end and took advantage of them,”” McFarland said.
UCSD’s Wilson and Ohta joined CSUSB’s Pope, Ford and Morohunfola, as well as Hawaii Pacific’s two-time All-American Nia Tuitele, on the all-tournament team.
This victory was the eighth in a row for the Triton team, which will now advance to the NCAA quarterfinals on Nov. 29 to square off against Atlantic Region Champion Lock Haven University.