The first game was tight as the Tritons and Wildcats traded leads with a grand total of 13 tie scores and eight lead changes, and the Wildcats out-killed the Tritons 13-12. Down 23-21 late in the first game, UCSD used their second timeout in an attempt to gather themselves, but couldn’t come up in the clutch to get the win, falling to Chico 22-25.

In the second game, UCSD forced 10 Wildcat errors and gave up only 16 points. Senior outside hitter Katie Condon led the Tritons with three huge tempo setting kills.

And UCSD took the momentum into the third game, outplaying the Wildcats to hold the lead throughout the entire set. UCSD recorded 15 kills and only 2 errors in the set, which put them ahead 2-1.

The final game echoed the intensity of the second game, and UCSD came out even harder, starting with a service ace from senior Janessa Werhane. UCSD struggled, recording several errors in the final game, but didn’t let that dampen their motivation to finish off Chico. Kills by Wilroy, Condon, and Brunsting put UCSD ahead for good, taking the win from the CCAA rival 25-17 in the final game.
UCSD displayed their depth in this vital conference victory with a number of Tritons recording impressive stats across the board. Four Tritons posted double-doubles: Senior Roxanne Brunsting had 25 assists with 10 digs, freshman setter Amber Hawthorne picked up 15 assists with 10 digs, senior Hillary Williamson went for 12 kills and 16 digs and Condon came through with a match high with 14 kills and 10 digs. Senior middle blocker Julia Freidenberg had a great game as well with 10 kills and 2 blocks.

Coming off a revitalizing victory, the Tritons nearly failed to re-focus as they geared up to face ninth ranked Cal State Stanislaus on Saturday.

“I thought that we really played well against [Stanislaus],” head coach Ricci Luyties said. “We knew that this was a really important game, because they’re right behind us in the [CCAA standings]…I think our level of intensity was right where it should be and I thought all of our matches progressing after the first two we played really well.”

Like with Chico, the Tritons fought mercilessly to stay with Stanislaus, accumulating five errors and fifteen kills. UCSD rallied to take the first game with 16 kills and only four errors.

Uncharacteristically, the Tritons gave up eight consecutive points in the came into the second game giving up eight consecutive points in the first game, largely due to errors, as the Warriors swiftly stretched the lead to 8-1.

“We really were not playing well at all,” Luyties said. “That’s not taking anything away from Stanislaus. We made so many errors. We progressed really well against Chico, but we took a big step back against Stanislaus.”

After a timeout by UCSD, the Tritons rallied to cut the deficit to three, and slowly crept their way to tie it at 11 thanks largely to the efforts of Condon and Freidenberg.

During the rest of the second game, the Warriors simply outplayed UCSD, beating the Tritons 25-20.

Kills from Katie Condon and Roxanne Brunsting combined with blocks by Demos and Brunsting pushed the Tritons through the third game 11-25.

Their intensity carried over into the fourth game where once again the Tritons forced nine errors and combined for a solid 12 kills — not even letting the Warriors have a look at the lead.

There were no lead changes, and no tie scores as the Tritons buried the Warriors 25-15.

Into the deciding match, the Tritons buried the Wildcats rolling to a 3-2 victory.

Outside hitter Roxanne Brunsting played one of her best games of the season with an incomparable 23 assists, 13 kills and 19 digs. Hillary Williamson also put up some impressive numbers with 12 kills and 13 digs. Setter Amber Hawthorne put up a match high of 31 assists with 13 digs, while senior outside hitter Katie Condon had a spectacular match high of 17 kills and 22 digs to complete yet another double-double performance.

Next Friday, UCSD faces Sonoma State, who sits in second place in the CCAA and has a 16-2 overall record. The last time the two teams met, UCSD conceded a 3-1 loss. The Tritons will compete against the Seawolves as they wrap up their regular season.