DAVIS, Calif. - The UC Santa Barbara Women's Volleyball team (14-14) will hit the road for the last week of the regular season in search of one more win to secure their place in The Big West Championships next week. The Gauchos face UC Davis on Thursday and UC Riverside on Saturday.
LAST TIME OUT
UC Santa Barbara earned four consecutive wins over two weekends of home matches. It took all five sets on Friday for the Gauchos to come away with a big win over UC Irvine to remain in the running for a Big West Championship spot. Their most recent 3-1 victory over Cal State Fullerton brings their conference record to 10-6.
Eva Travis remains a huge asset on offense with three double-double performances in the last four wins.
Sophie Reavis put on one of her best performances this season against the Anteaters on Friday hitting a .324 clip and registering 15 kills and 16 digs. She also put up four aces and two blocks.
Layanna Green also had one of her best nights with 12 kills and only one error on 21 attempts for a .524 hitting percentage.
Cortni Youngblood adds to the night's accolades earning a new career-high with 26 digs.
ASSESSING THE AGGIES
UC Davis clinched a spot in The Big West Championships with their win over Cal State Bakersfield last weekend. A three-way tie remains between UC Davis, Hawai'i and Cal Poly for the regular-season title.
The Aggie offense has been unstoppable this season, coming in first in The Big West in kills per set at 15.86 and 31st in the nation in team attacks per set at 41.71.
Mia Starr brought the Aggies much of their success coming in at 28th in the nation and first in The Big West in assists with 11.86 per set. OIivia Utterback follows up with offensive power averaging five kills per set, 36th in the NCAA and second in conference. Libero Julia Ng leads the back row notching double-digit digs in 21 matches this season with 378 total.
The Aggies and the Gauchos have met once already this season on Oct. 5 where Santa Barbara lost 3-1.
HUNTING THE HIGHLANDERS
UC Riverside comes into the match only able to find four wins in conference this year with a 9-20 overall record. The Highlanders found their most recent win over Hawai'i where they took the fifth set to earn their biggest victory of the season.
Riverside finds the most strength in team service aces coming in at third in The Big West and averaging 1.51 per set. The serving success can be attributed to Trinity Sheridan who holds the conference high in aces in a single match this season with five against Georgetown. The team's top hitter put up 351 kills this season and has double-digit kills in 25 of her 29 matches.
Setters Makena Tong and Beatriz Silva lead the team in assists with 367 and 330 on the season, respectively. Freshman McKinley Chase also follows closely behind with 240.
Jessica Dean and Brooklyn Wiedenheft are the starting liberos for the Highlanders. Dean ranks third in The Big West for digs per set at 3.97 with 361 total this season.
The Highlanders and the Gauchos met this season on Oct. 4 in the Thunderdome where the Gauchos swept 3-0.
WHEREABOUTS
First serve against the Aggies will take place at 6 p.m. in the University Union Credit Center. Saturday's matchup with the Highlanders will start at 4 p.m. in the SRC Arena. Both matches will be streamed on ESPN+.
