RIMAC Arena and the Triton faithful will bid adieu to the
five graduating seniors on the UCSD women’s volleyball team after two must-win
games on Nov. 9 and Nov. 10. UCSD avenged an earlier loss to Sonoma State by
capturing a five-game thriller on Nov. 9, 23-30, 30-22, 22-30, 30-28, 15-11,
and the team returned Nov. 10 and disposed of Cal State Monterey Bay 30-20,
30-19, 30-19.
UCSD finished the regular season 19-7 overall and 13-5 in
the California Collegiate Athletic Association, and with their second-place
finish in the conference, the Tritons earned the third seed in the NCAA Pacific
Regional, which begins Nov. 15 at Cal State San Bernardino. The Tritons were
one of five CCAA teams to make the eight-team regional, showing the depth and
difficulty of the conference.
Head coach Tom Black said he knows that the playoff
competition is at an even higher level than the regular season, but believes
the momentum the team built during its last two home matches will carry over.
“This was a big weekend for us,” he said. “I’m happy for the
seniors and I feel like we’re in a good spot right now. We’re just going to
continue working on the things we always work on.”
Before playoff banter and predictions could start, UCSD had
to take care of business against conference foe Sonoma State. In a contest that
began similarly to the teams’ Oct. 6 matchup, the Seawolves took game one, with
the Tritons bouncing back to take game two. However, unlike the match in early
October in which Sonoma State ran away with a 1-3 win, this time UCSD emerged victoriously.
Junior captain and outside hitter Rebecca Bailey admitted
that the Triton squad underestimated the Seawolves during their first meeting,
but UCSD looked focused and ready to play after a slow start in game one.
The Triton defense was deflated in the first game, with digs
and service returns seemingly going everywhere but to the setter. Without good
passing, senior setter Kim Adams and her hitters had difficulty finding any
offensive rhythm.
A two-point spread was the closest UCSD came in game one,
and Sonoma State closed out the opening round on three Triton hitting errors.
The Tritons started to find their swagger in game two,
earning their first lead of the match 9-8, following a block from junior
outside hitter Kimberly Carpenter. Carpenter continued at a torrid pace, giving
UCSD a 12-9 advantage.
Sonoma State wouldn’t allow the Tritons to pull too far
ahead, fighting back after every UCSD run. But it wasn’t enough down the
stretch, and the Tritons began to find the offense they lacked in game one.
Sophomore outside hitter Sylvia Schmidt, Bailey and senior middle blocker
Hannah Gary all got in on the action as the Tritons tied the match at one game
apiece.
Down 9-17, UCSD found itself in another deep hole in game
three and promptly called a timeout. Bailey rallied the troops with a couple of
kills as the Tritons moved within four points. But slow feet and poor defense
from game one resurfaced, and the Seawolves opened up a comfortable seven-point
advantage and cruised to the game three win.
In a do-or-die game four, neither team gained any advantage,
with the largest lead totaling four points. UCSD played from behind for the
game’s first half, capturing its first lead at 15-14.
Coming out of a timeout, Schmidt served up back-to-back aces
to give the Tritons a 23-19 advantage. The Seawolves wouldn’t go anywhere,
fighting back to tie the game for the 11th time — at 25. The two teams traded
points until UCSD earned a game point opportunity.
Sonoma State promptly called a timeout to ice Carpenter on
the service line, but after a Schmidt kill, the Tritons forced game five, their
fourth consecutive five-game match.
“Black just told us to stay in the moment,” senior captain
and libero Natalie Facchini said. “We were in a good position with game point
and confident that if we made it to a fifth game we could win.”
Down 4-1 early, UCSD came back from a timeout firing, tying
up the game at 4-4. Bailey tallied three of her game-high 29 kills as the Tritons
began to pull away from the pesky Seawolves, eventually grabbing another win.
Following emotional pre-game introductions and a cheer by
the players’ parents on Senior Night, UCSD faced off against the Sea Otters on
Nov. 10 in front of a boisterous Triton Tide.
“The night was really emotional for me,” senior outside
hitter Casey Wilson said. “It really started to hit me on my way over here and
was a mix of happy and sad. When the crowd started singing the national anthem,
my emotions really got to me but I was ready to play.”
The Tritons were in control from the beginning, and their
potent offense proved too much for the Sea Otter defense as Bailey, Schmidt and
Wilson all finished with double digit kills in the three-game rout.
Getting off to a good start was something UCSD failed to do
in previous weeks but wasn’t a problem against the Sea Otters.
“We really put it together tonight and during the second
half of the season,” Wilson said. “This team has a heart and fire like few
others that will make us contenders during playoffs.”
With elite competition looming, the team plans to work hard
on the fundamentals that have gotten it this far, and the Tritons hope their
work will pay off when they face sixth-seed Northwest Nazarene University on
Nov. 15 to kick off the NCAA Pacific Regional.
