Box Score AUSTIN, Texas – Tallulah Froley tallied a career-high 18 kills, Lindsey Ruddins recorded an 18-kill, 13-dig double-double and the UC Santa Barbara women's volleyball team took down Texas State 3-1 (25-21, 25-21, 20-25, 25-14) in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Thursday night in Gregory Gymnasium.
Making their first tournament appearance since 2013, the Gauchos were firing on all cylinders and captured their first tournament win since 2004. Now 23-5 overall, UCSB also has its most wins in a season since 2004.
"First off, congratulations to Texas State," said head coach Nicole Lantagne Welch during the post-match press conference. "They've had an amazing season and they showed a lot of fight. We came out strong on that fourth set to fight back there. [Texas State head coach] Karen [Chisum] is just an absolute class act person in the sport, so my hat's off to them. On our side, it was a fun match and it was a battle. It was point for point and it was really long for that set. We knew we had to give a lot out there. This group just stayed the course and I think the turning point was clearly that second set. We got down and we were able to just trust ourselves, stay steady, and find a win. That was huge for us. In a young group with all new NCAA participants, I'm just really proud. These three to my right [Ruddins, Zoe Fleck, Froley] were huge for us tonight and we'll really happy to represent Gaucho Volleyball and UCSB in this win."
Fleck was a defensive menace throughout the match, piling up her second-highest dig total of the season with 26.
"The idea on defense is that every ball is yours," said Fleck. "I feel like I went into the match with a really, really good mindset. I know who my hitters are, I know what my responsibilities are and every single ball on this court is my ball and I'm going to support my hitters. I'm going to dig these balls so that our offense can [do its job]. It was really just all a mindset for everyone on this team."
That mindset led to 70 digs as a team for Santa Barbara, while Texas State (24-9) managed just 54. The Gauchos also held an 18-12 advantage in blocks, led by five apiece from Rowan Ennis and Deni Wilson.
Offensively, UCSB outhit the Bobcats .245 (61-25-147) to .169 (46-21-148) and had superb play from setters Olivia Lovenberg and Romoni Vivao.
"[The offense] was clicking perfectly," said Froley. "Olivia [Lovenberg] saw every opportunity where I didn't have a block up and the other hitters were drawing the block. I was just going out there [looking] to kill it."
Lovenberg finished with 30 assists, her third-highest output of the year, while Vivao added 19 to go along with 11 digs for a double-double of her own.
The first set saw 10 ties and four different lead changes as the two teams traded runs throughout. With the score knotted at 20-20 late, none other than Froley and Ruddins combined for three straight kills to give the Gauchos the cushion they needed. With a 23-21 lead, Wilson slammed down a kill before Ruddins and Ennis teamed up for a block to give UCSB the opening game victory.
A 7-2 run midway through the second set gave Texas State a 19-13 lead and thoughts of evening the match at 1-1, however a crucial timeout call by Welch halted the Bobcats momentum. Torre Glasker made her mark on the match with back-to-back kills out of the break to spark a 6-0 run for Santa Barbara and even the score at 19-19 in the blink of an eye.
Glasker stayed sharp at the service line and pulled out a pair of aces to highlight the 12-2 run, finishing off the set 25-21.
Looking to avoid the sweep, Texas State came out strong in the third and led for much of the way, taking a 19-13 lead once again. Hoping for a repeat performance from the previous set, the Gauchos used a 5-2 rally to whittle the lead down to three, 21-18, but the Bobcats were able to bounce back and take the game 25-20.
After Texas State took the first point of the fourth set, it was all UCSB for the remainder of the night. The Gauchos scored six unanswered after a Fleck ace with kills from Ruddins and Froley, while the Bobcats committed a trio of attacking errors. With a 10-6 lead shortly after, Santa Barbara booked its ticket into the next round with nine unanswered to run away with the set and match, finishing off Texas State, 25-14.
Glasker finished with six kills and six digs on the night while freshman Tasia Farmer also added six kills and two blocks. Wilson tallied nine kills on .467 hitting to go with her strong defensive night at the net, and Froley finished hitting an efficient .394 with two blocks.
UCSB will take on No. 2 overall seed Texas in its second round matchup tomorrow, Dec. 6 at 5:00 p.m. PT (7:00 p.m. CT). The match will air on Longhorn Network (ESPN3) and live stats will be available on UCSBGauchos.com.
