Oct. 14, 2005

Box Score

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - For the first time in 2005 the UC Santa Barbara women's volleyball team dropped a game at home, but the end result Friday night was a 30-26, 26-30, 30-16, 30-24 victory over Cal State Northridge in the Thunderdome.

The Gauchos' fifth-straight win improved their overall record to 9-7 and maintained their half-match lead in the Big West Conference standings at 5-1. Meanwhile the Matadors lost for the seventh straight time to fall to 3-14, 1-5.

The home team was tentative at the outset, falling behind CSUN 11-9 following one of its five service errors in game one. However at that point UCSB calmed down and reeled off four unanswered points, two coming courtesy of Janine Sandell aces. Northridge later knotted the score at 14-14 courtesy of Kelley Hanson's kill, but three straight Gaucho points gave them a lead they would never relinquish. The visitors made things interesting by pulling within 29-26 before Sandell ended any hopes of a comeback with her sixth put-away of the frame.

Santa Barbara then appeared firmly in control of game two, building an 18-13 cushion when senior Megan Blackshire's slam found the floor. That lead wouldn't last long as the Matadors embarked on a 4-0 run - two via Amy Hultner aces - and then won eight of the next 10 points to find themselves with a 25-20 advantage that included six straight on the serve of Kayla Wright. UCSB could pull no closer than three points the rest of the way as the two squads went into the locker rooms knotted at one game apiece.

The Gauchos broke open a 7-7 tie in game three when setter Ashley Dutro's kill was sandwiched in between a pair of Sandell slams, forcing Northridge head coach Jeff Stork to call timeout. The stoppage didn't help as Santa Barbara's lead quickly mushroomed to 17-10 as sophomore Bethany Johansen put-away one of Dutro's rally-scoring school record 66 assists on the evening. A later 5-0 run by the home team put the game all but out of reach, as CSUN connected at just an .073 clip.

Neither team had amassed greater than a two-point lead in the fourth frame until Lauren McLaughlin's kill capped a 4-0 run for Santa Barbara and made the scoreboard read 24-20 in favor of the three-time defending Big West champs. Consecutive put-aways by Val Kepler and Jenn Probert quickly brought the visitors within 24-22, but McLaughlin answered with back-to-back slams of her own and UCSB never looked back. Blackshire sealed the victory with one of her patented step-out spikes on the right side.

Sandell led a quartet of Gauchos in double-figures with 24 put-aways, the first time she has reached the 20-kill plateau since Sept. 3 at Florida. The London England, native added 14 digs for her seventh double-double of the season, while McLaughlin pounded home a career-high 20 balls and added 28 scoops. Blackshire amassed 16 kills and a sparkling .625 hitting percentage to pull within 10 put-aways of 1,000 in her UCSB career, and also notched seven total blocks. Johansen had her best match of the year with 11 kills, while Dutro added to her record assist total with 11 digs. Santa Barbara hit .318 as a team.

On the other side of the net, Probert topped all Matadors with 16 kills and junior libero Jamie Crawford dug a match-best 23 balls. However as a team CSUN was out-dug 78-65 and registered just 3.5 blocks to the Gauchos' 10.0.

UCSB returns to action on Saturday, Oct. 15, hosting Big West rival Pacific (9-8, 5-2) in the Thunderdome at 7:00 p.m. The Tigers were swept at Cal Poly on Friday evening.