Nov. 18, 2004
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. - The Big West Conference champion UC Santa Barbara women's volleyball team concluded league play Thursday evening with a 30-26, 29-31, 30-17, 30-25 victory over Cal Poly in Mott Gym.
The 18th-ranked Gauchos extended their season-long winning streak to 12 straight matches and improved to 22-3 overall, while UCSB's 16-2 Big West record is its third-best effort in 21 years of competing in the conference. Meanwhile the Mustangs - who were swept by Santa Barbara to open league action in September - fell to 5-22 and 3-15.
It quickly became apparent that UCSB would be in a dogfight against the Big West's last-place team as CP built a 16-8 lead in the first frame. The visitors responded with five straight points, but Santa Barbara couldn't catch the Mustangs until a 8-0 run put the conference champs up 25-21 following one of Janine Sandell's nine kills in the game. A put-away and an ace - both by Nicole Bertotti - pulled Cal Poly team within 25-23, but the Gauchos were able to pull away and secure victory, out-hitting the home team .279 to .137.
In the second game Cal Poly jumped to a 17-10 lead but the Gauchos whittled away and tied the game at 29-29 on an attack error by the Mustangs. Cal Poly rallied back to the final two points and the game on a kill by Emily Doris that she followed up with an ace. Doris again led the Mustangs in kills, recording four with five digs. Sandell had six to lead the Gauchos. The difference in the game proved to be the play at the net with Cal Poly recording six team blocks to UCSB's one. Senior Margaret Donoghue had four in the game, two solo. Cal Poly hit .222 to UCSB's .119.
The third game was all UCSB as the Gauchos hit .314 while limiting the Mustangs to a -.122 hitting percentage. Olivia Waldowski and Sandell each had five kills in the game.
In the fourth game UCSB held a margin of more than five points most of the game. Cal Poly recorded one more kill in the game (16-15) and one more error (7-6) but the Gauchos tallied four service aces with only one error. Cal Poly had only one ace with four errors. Cal Poly hit .176 to UCSB's .220.
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Sandell was on fire, hitting .340 while racking up a match-high 23 kills, her second-highest total in 2004. The London, England native added 18 digs for her third straight double-double and 11th this season. She was the only Gaucho with double-digit put-aways, although Waldowski and Megan Blackshire added nine slams apiece. Waldowski also added seven total blocks, however UCSB's streak of double-figure stuffs was halted at four straight matches as they blocked just eight balls as a team.
Meanwhile Gaucho senior libero Kristin Nelson moved within eight digs of equaling the Big West career record of 1,683 as she scooped 24 balls on the evening. The reigning National Player of the Week has led UCSB in digs every match this season.
Cal Poly had a pair of players with 14 kills each - Doris and Kayla Mulder - while Bertotti added 10 kills. Mustang freshman libero Kristin Jackson led a trio of players with double-digit digs with 26.
Cal Poly hit .106 for the match and had 63 digs while UCSB hit .230 with 82 digs. The Gauchos amassed 12 aces to the Mustangs' eight while Cal Poly also had 13 blocks.
Nelson will attempt to make Big West history as UCSB concludes regular season play with a non-conference match at UC Davis on Sunday, Nov. 21 at 2:00 p.m. Live scoring for the Gaucho-Aggie showdown can be viewed by clicking on the "SCHEDULE" link at the top of this page.
