Oct. 22, 2005

Box Score

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - The UC Santa Barbara women's volleyball team avenged its lone Big West Conference loss and increased its lead in the league standings Saturday evening with a 30-27, 30-22, 30-23 sweep of Cal Poly in the Thunderdome.

The Gauchos - who have now won eight straight contests since a Sept. 24 defeat at CP - improved to 12-7 overall and moved one-and-a-half matches ahead of both the Mustangs and Long Beach State in the Big West race. Meanwhile Cal Poly saw its winning streak halted at four, falling to 13-5, 6-3 in conference action.

UCSB took an early 7-4 lead in game one, but the visitors quickly closed the gap and neither squad allowed the other much breathing room until CP pulled ahead 24-21 following a Gaucho hitting error. That cushion increased to 26-22 thanks to consecutive kills by seniors Kayla Mulder and Vanessa Gilliam, prompting Santa Barbara head coach Kathy Gregory to call timeout. After the break Cal Poly halted its momentum with a service error, and the home team roared back with six straight points on the serve of junior Jamie Garbisch. The last came on a put-away by freshman outside hitter Lauren McLaughlin before the Mustangs finally stopped the bleeding with a kill of their own, making the scoreboard read 29-27. However senior middle blocker Megan Blackshire put an exclamation point on the Gauchos' rally by slamming down a Poly overpass.

Santa Barbara's energy level remained high to open the second frame as the three-time defending Big West champs stormed out to a 15-3 lead, including a run of five straight points with junior Emily Hendrickson back to serve that included an ace and two more McLaughlin kills. At that point the visitors reeled off a 4-0 run of their own, then made things very interesting by closing within 18-14 thanks to three consecutive UCSB attacking errors. Later, Mulder's put-away kept Cal Poly within striking distance at 24-19, but three straight Gaucho points capped by Blackshire's ace ended any hopes of a Mustang comeback.

The outset of game three was hotly-contested until the home team broke open a 7-7 tie with a 4-0 run, the last three coming on CP hitting miscues. That was all the momentum Santa Barbara needed as its lead mushroomed to 20-11, although Cal Poly proved it had some might left by pulling within 26-21 on Courtney Holman's service ace. McLaughlin then notched two of the evening's final three put-aways to clinch UCSB's seventh sweep of 2005.

As she has in 17 previous contests this season, Sandell paced the Santa Barbara attach with her match-best 19 kills, added 10 digs for her fourth-straight double-double. McLaughlin pounded home 15 balls - hitting an efficient .361 on the night - while also scooping 11 balls for her fourth double-dip as a Gaucho. Hendrickson led all players with 14 digs while Blackshire and sophomore Brett Quirarte notched four blocks apiece.

Cal Poly freshman outside hitter Kylie Atherstone cooped off following a hot start but still finished with 14 put aways and Gilliam added 10 more as the only pair f Mustangs in double-figures. Sophomore libero Kristin Jackson made 12 digs for the visitors, who were limited to just .0921 hitting as a team.

The Gauchos hit the road for an important pair of Big West matches, Oct. 28 at UC Irvine followed by a showdown with 24th-ranked Long Beach State the following night.