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VOLLEYBALL ‘mdash; Despite the added pressure of fall classes starting up, the UCSD women’s volleyball players did not let up the dominating performances that has characterized their play throughout the young season. Playing against Chico State University and Cal State Stanislaus on Sept. 25 and 26, respectively, the Tritons cruised to two strong victories. The wins propelled the No. 4 Tritons to second place in the California Collegiate Athletic Association, with Saturday’s win marking career victory No. 100’ for head coach Tom Black.
The Tritons opened their weekend series against the Chico State Wildcats, who entered the game ranked No. 23 in the nation with a 12-2 record. UCSD started slow with an unusual number of mistakes, allowing Chico State to stay in the game early on.
‘We started off slow, and we’re really working to improve our starting pace,’ Black said. ‘We just need to increase our intensity in warm ups to find a pace.’
Slow starts have become a pattern for the Tritons, who ‘mdash; in order to play deep into this season’s playoffs ‘mdash; will need to start their matches with as much enthusiasm as they have displayed late in games.
‘It’s not that we try to start off our games slow,’ senior outside hitter Karen Reis said. ‘We just don’t have the same intensity that we need early on.’
Despite watching Chico State jump to a quick 4-1 lead, UCSD staged a comeback and eased through the rest of the match, taking a 25-20 victory in the first game. The Tritons were able to bounce back from an early hole to regain the game’s momentum.
‘We analyzed tapes of their other matches and then we game-plan based on what they do, to try to take advantage of their mistakes,’ senior captain outside hitter Sylvia Schmidt said.
The Wildcats, however, were not ready to let the Tritons run away with an easy win. Despite hitting at a season-high .361 clip and a burst from Schmidt’s game-leading 17 kills, the Tritons could not control their serves, allowing Chico State to stay close throughout the second game. Despite leading the CCAA in aces, the Tritons allowed the Wildcats to score the majority of their second-game points with constant hitting errors, dropping the game 25-22.
‘We probably gave them about 90 percent of their points with our missed serves in the second game,’ Black said.
The Tritons stormed out of halftime with renewed energy and picked up a quick lead in the third game. Senior setter Elaine Chen paced the offense with solid setting as the Tritons put their second-game lapses behind them. They took control with game-changing kills and accurate blocking to win 25-14.
‘There were no magic words that fixed everything,’ Black said about his team’s post-halftime play. ‘We just looked at how we were playing and knew that we couldn’t give them so many points. We just focused more and tried not to make the same mistakes.’
UCSD maintained its new intensity for the remainder of t
he match and withstood a late-game Wildcat charge to finish off Chico State with a 25-20 win. Playing a nationally ranked opponent for the first time in nearly three weeks, the four-game victory gave UCSD a boost that will help sustain a push toward the CCAA championships.
‘It felt great to win against Chico State,’ Black said. ‘When your opponent makes mistakes and you capitalize, it almost feels like you can’t make any mistakes and everything goes right.’
On the heels of its gritty victory against Chico State, UCSD hosted Cal State Stanislaus on Sept. 26. After the previous night’s hard-fought game, the Tritons knew they would have to keep their play in check against the Warriors.
‘We didn’t have any emotional letdown,’ Schmidt said. ‘We try to treat every opponent the same every night.’
As they had already done seven times this season, the Tritons beat their opponent in three straight games ‘mdash; this time, defeating the Warriors 25-14, 25-16, 25-20.
Although UCSD won all three games against Stanislaus, the victories again came after overcoming a slow start.
‘We were a little worried there for a bit,’ Black said. ‘But we refocused ourselves and came back in the game.’
The Tritons stormed back on the shoulders of an offense that hit at a season-best .356 clip and saw ten players record kills. The win raised UCSD’s season record to 14-1 (6-1 CCAA), while the Warriors dropped to 6-8 overall with an 0-6 in-conference mark. The weekend wins held extra meaning for’ Black, UCSD’s fifth-year coach.
‘It always feels great to get a win, but even more since it was Black’s 100th win,’ Reis said after the match.
The Tritons look to use their momentum in another back-to-back home series next weekend. They will face Cal State Monterey Bay on Oct. 2 and San Francisco State on Oct. 3 before hitting the road for Northern California, where they will play Humboldt State on Oct. 9 and Sonoma State on Oct. 10.
Readers can contact Tyler Nelson at [email protected].