UC Riverside
Cal Poly Falls in Five Sets to UC Riverside
11/22/2013 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Cal Poly Falls in Five Sets to UC Riverside
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. – The Cal Poly volleyball team lost in five sets to UC Riverside on Friday at the Mott Athletics Center. Cal Poly battled back to win the fourth set and push the match to a fifth and deciding set. UCR won by set scores of 14-25, 26-24, 25-23, 15-25 and 15-9.
With the loss the Mustangs fall to 11-15 and 5-8 overall while UCR picks up its first Big West Conference win of the season and improves to 1-13 in conference matches and 2-24 overall. The Mustangs return to the court on Saturday in the team's final home match of the season when they host Cal State Fullerton for a 7 pm match. Cal Poly will honor the team's six seniors prior to the match.
The Mustangs were led by senior Megan McConnell with 18 kills while freshman Taylor Gruenewald added 14. McConnell's kills came on 41 swings with just three errors while Gruenewald's kills came on 29 swings and two errors. Senior Marianne Gera and freshman Anna Gorman each had five kills.
Four Mustangs had 10 or more digs led by McConnell and fellow senior Kate Walters with 16 each. Senior Steffi Sooter had 15 while sophomore Nicole Kessler had 12.
Junior Shannon Garrett dished out 29 assists with Walters adding 15 in the final two sets. Gruenewald led the team with four assisted blocks.
UCR was led by Ashley Cox with 22 kills with Annishia McKoy adding 13.
Cal Poly hit a blazing .455 in the first set, but struggled in sets two and three hitting .132 and .079. In the fourth set win Cal Poly hit .276, but hit only .080 in the final set. The team hit .202 overall in the match. UCR hit .189 in the match, but managed three more total blocks then the Mustangs, 10-7.
The Mustangs served up nine service aces compared to six for UCR and held the edge in digs, 75-74.
