10-5
UC Irvine
3-12
Mustangs Move to 3-0 in Big West After Sweep of UC Irvine Saturday
9/28/2019 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
IRVINE, Calif. — Junior outside hitter Maia Dvoracek recorded her fifth double-double of the season Saturday as the Cal Poly volleyball team swept UC Irvine (25-18, 25-23, 25-18) on the road to improve to 3-0 in the Big West.
Playing their first nationally-televised match of the season, the Mustangs (10-5, 3-0 BW) recorded their fifth straight win of the season, their ninth consecutive Big West sweep going back to last season, and won their fifth match in a row over the Anteaters (3-12, 0-3 BW).
Dvoracek led all players with 16 kills to go along with 15 digs. Senior outside hitter Jessica McRoskey, who came off a season-high performance Friday against Cal State Fullerton, eclipsed that with a career-high 10 kills. Senior libero Mika Dickson finished with a match and career-high 22 digs on the night. Sophomore setter Avalon DeNecochea dished out a match-high 33 assists while also adding eight digs, four kills and two blocks. Sophomore middle blocker Meredith Phillips was also effective, collecting six kills on nine attempts to hit .667 for the match.
Cal Poly played strong defense against UC Irvine all night, out-digging them 68 to 55 and held them to a .074 hitting percentage for the match.
Tied at 4 in the first set, the Anteaters scored four straight points to go up 8-4. With Cal Poly later trailing 12-11, the Mustangs scored five unanswered points to take a 16-12 lead. Later leading 19-16, Cal Poly went on to finish the set on a 6-2 run to win it 25-18.
The second set proved to be the closest of the three with five ties and three lead changes. Tied at 3, the Mustangs used a 6-1 run to go up 9-4. UC Irvine was able to chip away at the lead and later take a 16-14 lead. With the Mustangs trailing 22-19, they scored three straight points to tie it at 22. After trading points to tie the score at 23, Cal Poly scored back-to-back points to win the set 25-23.
The Mustangs led the entire third set on the way to completing the sweep after getting out to an 11-4 lead. After the Anteaters cut the lead to 14-10, Cal Poly went on a 4-1 run to go up 18-11. They never looked back from there as up 24-18, a block by junior Madilyn Mercer and DeNecochea sealed the victory for the Mustangs 25-18.
Cal Poly will now have a three-match homestand coming up. Next weekend, the Mustangs will host UC Riverside on Friday and UC Davis on Saturday. Both matches start at 7 p.m. from Mott Athletics Center.
Photo courtesy of Owen Main | fansmanship.com
