Nov. 22, 2005

Box Score

LOS ANGELES, Calif. - In an important regional rivalry match Tuesday night that will likely have implications for NCAA Tournament selections and seedings, the UC Santa Barbara women's volleyball team scored a 30-24, 16-30, 30-26, 30-26 road win over Loyola Marymount in Gersten Pavilion.

The Gauchos' sixth-straight win and 15th in their last 16 contests raises their overall record to 19-8. Meanwhile the Lions had their two-game winning streak over UCSB snapped and fell to 19-10.

In game one UCSB fell behind 9-7, but put together a 5-0 run to build a cushion it would never relinquish. The home team later closed within 26-24, but a string of four unanswered points capped by Megan Blackshire's game-clinching slam quickly ended any hopes of an LMU comeback.

The Gauchos were not at the top of their game during the second frame, never holding a lead while hitting .085 in the process. On the flipside, Loyola Marymount connected at a .385 clip en route to evening the match heading into intermission.

On the contrary, game three was about as close as it gets in college volleyball, with eight ties and an equal number of lead changes. Down 21-19, the visitors reeled off three in a row, two of which came courtesy of Lion hitting errors. Although UCSB never trailed from that point, it could not pull ahead by more than two points until back-to-back kills from Blackshire and freshman Brittany San Jose sealed the hard-fought victory.

Santa Barbara then rallied from a 14-7 deficit in game four, grabbing its first lead at 19-18 before breaking open a 22-22 tie with seven unanswered points, all of which incredibly came via kills. Junior outside hitter Janine Sandell - who was named Big West Conference Player of the Year on Tuesday had six of those put-aways. The visitors could not capitalize on their first four match points before eventually putting things away courtesy of an LMU hitting error.

Sandell led all players with 26 kills - her 11th performance this season with 20 or more slams - and added 12 digs for her 15th double-double of 2005. Gaucho middle blockers Blackshire and Olivia Waldowski were sensational as well with 13 and 12 put-aways, respectively and a combined .400 hitting percentage. Junior libero Emily Hendrickson led all UCSB players with 19 digs while sophomore setter Ashley Dutro enjoyed a double-dip of 44 assists and 12 scoops.

A quartet of Lion attackers recorded double-digit kills, led by Christina Reneau with 16. Emily Day amassed a match-high 21 digs for the home team, which lost despite holding an advantage over Santa Barbara in every statistical category except for service aces.

The Gauchos close the 2005 regular seasom with two matches at the Baden Thanksgiving Classic in Long Beach, Calif. First up is a Friday, Nov. 25 showdown with Florida A&M (21-4), the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference champion. First serve in the Pyramid is slated for 5:00 p.m.