WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL — Heading into the weekend, the No. 16 UCSD women’s volleyball team was on a three-game winning streak and felt confident about taking on perennial California Collegiate Athletic Association powerhouse and No. 1 ranked rival Cal State San Bernardino at RIMAC Arena. After the first two sets however, the Tritons were in a 0-2 hole and fighting to stay alive. Instead of panicking, UCSD head coach Tom Black focused the team on playing the women across the net, and not their ranking.
“We just needed to stay within our system and play each play,” Black said. “Play the team on the floor and not their rep.”
The Tritons went on to take the next three sets, 25-16, 25-20, 15-12, and took the win against the previously undefeated Coyotes. The win was big for UCSD as it dealt Cal State San Bernardino (12-1, 5-1 CCAA) its first loss of the season and its first CCAA loss of the season for the third consecutive year. The win was also a reminder of last season, when the Tritons fell behind in the first two sets and had to rally in the final three to take down the then-No. 2 Coyotes.
UCSD dropped the first set in heartbreaking fashion, coming back from a four-point deficit to take the lead 24-23 on a kill by freshman outside hitter Hillary Williamson. Cal State San Bernardino battled back with a block and a Triton error gave the Coyotes a 25-24 advantage for the set point where freshman middle blocker Samantha Middleborn finished the set for the Coyotes with a block.
The second set was another hard-fought struggle for the Tritons, as they dropped the game 25-22, coming within two points near the end of the set. While the set remained close, UCSD committed 10 errors in the second set and had 16 errors for the opening two sets compared to only having eight for the three final sets.
Cutting down on errors and sticking to their game plan, the Tritons rallied behind Williamson in the third game. The freshman phenom had four total kills in the set including the team’s last three of the set. Junior outside hitter Sylvia Schmidt felt that in addition to limiting mistakes, UCSD upped its intensity after the first two sets, which contributed to the turnaround.
“There was a newfound sense of urgency where we felt like we had to pick up our game right now,” Schmidt said. “After we got rolling it gave us more hope and we started clicking.”
In the fourth and fifth sets the Tritons proved worthy to be contenders for the Division-II championship, taking the games 25-20 and 15-12 respectively and seeming in control throughout, hitting 0.333 and 0.391 respectively.
Williamson finished the match with a career-high 17 kills, while senior outside hitters Rebecca Bailey and Kimberly Carpenter added 12 kills apiece. In addition, sophomore middle blocker Cara Simonsen had a standout game with a career-high eight blocks for UCSD.
After toppling Cal State San Bernardino, the Tritons took on No. 20 Cal Poly Pomona Saturday night in the second game of their weekend series. After taking down the first ranked team in the country, the Tritons knew that the Broncos were not going to just give them the game. As play unfolded, Cal Poly Pomona’s reputation as the CCAA conference’s top blocking team became apparent against UCSD, taking the Tritons out of their element. The Broncos’ senior middle blocker Vanessa Williams and junior setter Jasmine Davis stood in the way of UCSD all night, defending the net and throwing off Triton offense.
After leading 20-18 in the opening set, Cal Poly Pomona (7-4, 4-2 CCAA) scored the final seven points to take the first set 25-20; the Broncos’ blocking had disrupted the Tritons, resulting in several attack errors. UCSD battled back with Schmidt and Williamson to take the second set 26-24, but lost the third set 25-22, after being unable to build momentum as a team.
Entering the fourth set, the Tritons altered their attack to go around the Broncos’ blocking, focusing on better passing. Though behind in points, Schmidt said she didn’t feel under pressure, and described the team as mentally tough.
“We are used to fighting back, so when we got down tonight we tried to focus on serving and passing and playing as a team,” Schmidt said. “We focused a lot on serving targets and trying to break down their passing to get them out of their offense, and to get ours going.”
The change in strategy worked for the Tritons as they went up by as many as 10 points in the fourth set and seven points in the fifth to easily take the remaining sets 25-14, 15-9.
Schmidt finished the game with 18 kills on 0.410 hitting to go along with three aces and five blocks while Chen continued to spark the offense, recording a double-double with 54 assists and 11 digs.
With their latest win, the Tritons improve to 11-2, 5-1 CCAA. They will take on Chico State in an Oct. 3 away game at 7 p.m.
