Oct. 8, 2005

Final Stats

RIVERSIDE, Calif. - The UC Santa Barbara women's volleyball team swept host UC Riverside 30-25, 30-21, 30-17 in a Big West Conference match in front of 337 fans at the Student Recreation Center in Riverside Saturday.

With their fourth-straight win, The Gauchos improved to 8-7, 4-1 in league, and took over sole posession of first place in the Big West standings. Meanwhile the Highlanders fell to 12-5 and 1-4.

Janine Sandell led all players with 17 kills and hit .289 on the match. Lauren McLaughlin had nine kills for the Gauchos, who hit .269 (47-18-108) as a team.

The Highlanders shook up their lineup in hopes of improving their passing, giving prime time to freshmen Tarin Tartaglia, Laura Eck and Amy Read, but the team still struggled on the attack, hitting .090 (35-25-111). Senior hitter Jamie DeKiewiet led UCR with 12 kills, but no other Highlander had more than five kills.

UCR hit .119 (14-9-42) in the game while the Gauchos hit .273 (18-6-44), led by Sandell's nine kills. The Gauchos led by one early at 6-5, but used a five-point run to build an 11-5 advantage. UCR shaved the lead to two at 22-20 and the teams traded points before the Gauchos built the lead to four at 25-21, forcing a UCR timeout. The Highlanders got to within three at 26-23 and 27-24, but the Gauchos finished with three of the final four points to win the game, 30-25.

The Gauchos built an early lead in game two, jumping out to a 10-3 lead. The Highlanders kept it even from there but could never catch up and dropped a 30-21 decision. The Highlanders hit .100 (9-6-30) in the game, while the Gauchos struggled as well at .172 (13-8-29).

The Highlanders were up 11-9 in game three, but the Gauchos went on an 13-4 run to build an 11-point lead at 24-13 and never looked back. The Gauchos hit .343 on the game.

UCSB returns home to face Cal State Northridge on Friday, Oct. 14 at 7:00 p.m. in the Thunderdome.