After suffering a discouraging loss to
Sonoma State on Oct. 6, the UCSD women’s volleyball team recovered with solid
execution and earned two much-needed victories to reposition itself among the
California Collegiate Athletic Association best.
The Tritons regained their form after losing
to the Seawolves, pulling off an upset against Cal State Los Angeles 30-23,
30-23, 28-30, 31-33, 15-7, and following it up with a dominant performance at
home against Cal State Dominguez Hills 30-26, 30-17, 30-13. With the wins, UCSD
improved to 13-6 overall and 7-4 in the CCAA.
Head coach Tom Black
said the girls were focused and ready to play against the No. 19 Cal State Los
Angeles on Oct. 10 despite the loss to Sonoma State still lingering in their
minds.
“[Black] persistently told us to move on and
focus on the task on hand,” junior outside hitter Rebecca Bailey said. “We come
out to every game focused on the task at hand and we work from there.”
The Tritons got off to a slow start in their
first Wednesday night game in conference play, as the Golden Eagles jumped out
to a commanding 20-15 lead after a serving ace. The deficit invigorated UCSD as
the Tritons took off on a five-point run to tie the game at 20 apiece. Senior
opposite Amber Ries led the attack with a kill and block, and the fired-up
Tritons scored 10 of the next 13 to snatch game one
30-23.
Down 13-5 in game two, Bailey began to heat
up, firing four kills as part of the Tritons 10-1 run. The teams continued to
trade points until UCSD’s new all-time digs leader senior defensive specialist
Natalie Facchini served up three aces on a Triton six-point run. Ries closed
out game two with a kill.
In what became the back-and-forth theme of
the game, the Tritons again dug themselves into another deficit in game three.
This time, they weren’t able to dig themselves out. Down 22-16, the Tritons
battled point for point until they were only a point behind at 29-28. Cal State
Los Angeles drowned UCSD’s hopes of a third straight comeback by winning 30-28.
Bailey explained how the Tritons nearly
managed to battle back from six points behind.
“We played in a deficit for a lot of the
match,” Bailey said. “But for all the hard work we put in and our inner drive
to win, we weren’t going to let up.”
The Tritons finally played with a lead early
in game four, forcing the Golden Eagles into a timeout. But Cal State Los
Angeles soared back to tie the game at 18, eventually capturing a 20-18
advantage. The teams went back and forth as the conclusion of game four neared
the end with neither offering any breathing room. Bailey tallied one of her
team-high 23 kills to tie the game at 28-28.
UCSD would earn a 31-30 lead and the game
point on a Golden Eagle error. Cal State Los Angeles staved off defeat with a
pair of kills giving it game four and forcing a decisive game five.
The Tritons put the pressure on in game five,
jumping to an 8-3 lead powered by sophomore middle blocker Sylvia Schmidt and
junior defensive specialist Michelle Torres. UCSD closed out the exciting match
15-7, fittingly on two Bailey kills.
The Tritons’ ability to storm back from two
games down impressed Black.
“We kept our poise after losing those first
two games and came out with our guns blazing,” Black said. “I’m proud of the
girls and the way they played tonight.”
Black also had much to be proud about on
Oct. 13, as the Tritons steamrolled Cal State Dominguez Hills. After a slow
start to game one, UCSD pulled away to a 22-19 and wouldn’t relinquish the
advantage, winning 30-26. The Tritons cruised in games two and three, using
multiple runs to pull away from the Toros.
“We were serving aggressive and we kept
building from there,” Black said. The aggressive serving scored 13 aces for
UCSD.
Bailey paced the team with 12 kills and
senior outside hitter Casey Wilson added nine.
Now in the last half of the season, the
Tritons have learned just how difficult the CCAA is but are eager to avenge the
first-half losses.
“We’re excited to see all these teams again,”
Black said. “The girls really recognized the parity of this conference and how
tough it is to play every match with the same intensity. We’re going in with
the mindset of one match at a time and we did that well this week.”
UCSD will take that philosophy into next
week’s respective home matches against Cal State Stanislaus and No. 20 Chico
State on Oct. 19.
