Oct. 18, 2005

Box Score

MALIBU, Calif. - Tuesday evening the UC Santa Barbara women's volleyball team notched arguably its most impressive non-conference victory of 2005, sweeping Pepperdine 33-31, 30-25, 30-28 in Firestone Fieldhouse.

The road triumph extended UCSB's season-long winning streak to seven straight matches and improved its overall record to 11-7. Meanwhile the Waves fell to 10-8, and have now lost two straight at the hands of the Gauchos.

Game one was the longest Santa Barbara has played thusfar in 2005, and saw a pair of UCSB players both achieve an important career milestone. Junior outside hitter Janine Sandell entered the match just two kills shy of 1,000 and reached that lofty plateau midway through the frame, while senior middle blocker Megan Blackshire stood at 999 career put-aways before Tuesday. She notched kill No. 1,000 when it mattered most, giving UCSB a 32-31 lead and setting up game point. The Capistrano, Calif., native added to her impressive career total with a step-out spike that secured victory for the visitors.

The Gauchos then went ahead 10-9 in the second frame before Pepperdine stormed back with three straight points, forcing Santa Barbara head coach Kathy Gregory to call timeout. Her pep talk evidently worked as her troops stormed back to build a 22-15 advantage following another Sandell slam. The home team crept back within 26-23 but Santa Barbara freshman Lauren McLaughlin ended the mini-rally with a put-away and sophomore Brett Quirarte later notched the game-clinching kill. UCSB connected at a .349 clip in the second frame.

The Waves appeared to come out of the intermission fired up, going ahead 12-9 thanks to a Julie Rubenstein kill and then holding the visitors at bay until they knotted the score at 20-20. Santa Barbara finally pulled ahead courtesy of Bethany Johansen's slam, but moments later Pepperdine found itself with a 23-22 advantage. At that point the Gauchos picked a most-opportune time for a 7-0 rally that a pair of Wave timeouts were unable to halt. Katy Daly finally stopped the bleeding with a kill, and her squad then made things interesting by scoring four of the next five points to pull within 29-28. On UCSB's fourth match point, Blackshire put down Ashley Dutro's set to clinch the sweep.

For the 17th time this season, Sandell paced the Gaucho attack with 14 kills, and also amassed an equal number of digs for her third straight double-double. Blackshire was exceptionally accurate with 10 put-aways on 16 errorless swings for a .625 hitting percentage, while Johansen matched that kill total and was not far behind at .529. The San Jose, Calif., native also recorded seven total blocks, followed closely by her fellow sophomore Quirarte with six stuffs. Meanwhile Dutro enjoyed a double-dip of 44 assists and 10 scoops.

Pepperdine received 12 kills from Rubenstein and 10 more courtesy of Lecca Roberts, however the home team connected at just .156 on the night. Wave libero Kekai Crabbe led all players with 21 digs.

The Big West Conference-leading Gauchos resume league play on Saturday, Oct. 22, hosting second place Cal Poly in the Thunderdome at 7:00 p.m.