WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL — After two straight weekends of road games and five straight losses, the Tritons will certainly be happy to see their home court again.
The UCSD Women’s Volleyball team fell to Chico State and Cal State Stanislaus on Sept. 24 and 25, extending their losing streak to five games. The Tritons lost a 2-3 decision against Chico State, their fourth straight loss that lasted five sets at the time. Cal State Stanislaus beat the Tritons 3-1 the following night.
“I think we have to go into the game with a different mentality,” senior libero Janessa Wehane said. “We can’t let the last five games control or dictate how we go into this weekend.”
The current five-game skid marks the longest the program has suffered since 1992
The Tritons had a 2-1 lead after 3 games against Chico State, but were unable to hang on as the Wildcats rallied to take the last two games 25-23 and 20-18.
Junior Katie Condon led the Tritons with 20 kills, while sophomore Julia Freidenberg added 15. Werhane had 18 digs, and junior Hilary Williamson added 16 in her first game back from an injury.
After losing the first set 25-14, the Tritons came back to win the next two sets. UCSD was especially dominant in the third set — winning 25-13 — but couldn’t win the next two.
Chico State improved to 8-4 on the season, including 3-3 in the CCAA, while UCSD fell to 5-5 overall and 2-4 in conference play.
Williamson was not the only Triton with injury problems, as UCSD was still without All-American senior Roxanne Brunsting due to an ankle injury.
On the Sept. 25 match against Cal State Stanislaus, outside hitter Lianne Vicchio tallied 12 kills and 11 digs, UCSD was held to a paltry .179 hitting percentage and the Warriors managed a 25-19, 24-26, 25-20, 25-22 victory over the Tritons. Vicchio was later named CCAA Player of the Week for her efforts.
Werhane had 25 digs and Freidenberg and freshman Sally Yingst gave 10 kills apiece for the Tritons, but it was not enough to keep the team from losing their fifth straight game and falling to 5-6 overall on the season.
UCSD fell out of the national rankings after starting the season at the No. 8 spot, and are unranked for the first time since Aug. 28, 2001.
“The situation we’ve gone through recently has been a reality check for this team,” Werhane said. “It has given us a little more motivation and focus during practice this week. I think this week we’ve had three of the best practices we’ve had since starting the season.”
Cal State Stanislaus went to 8-4 overall and 5-2 in the CCAA with the win.
The Tritons will look to rebound with their next four games at home. Their first chance to snap their losing streak will be a tough test against No. 23 Cal State L.A.
The Golden Eagles ended the Tritons season last year in the NCAA West Region Semifinals.
“It doesn’t matter that Cal State L.A. is ranked,” Werhane said. “Last weekend shouldn’t have any say on what happens this weekend. We still have a grudge match against them.”
The game will be Friday, Oct. 1, with first serve at 7 p.m.
The Tritons will finish off the weekend by facing off against Cal State Dominguez Hills.
Readers can contact Liam Rose at [email protected]
