Nov. 26, 2002
Santa Barbara, Calif. - The USC women's volleyball team proved itself worthy of the nation's top ranking by defeating No. 6 UC Santa Barbara 30-28, 30-20, 30-26 on Tuesday to spoil the Gauchos' Senior Night in the Thunderdome.
A crowd of 2,794 - the second largest in UCSB history - saw the Gauchos finish the 2002 regular season with a 28-2 overall record. Meanwhile the Trojans will take a 24-1 mark into next month's NCAA Tournament following their non-conference victory.
After Santa Barbara seniors Danielle Bauer, Courtney Guerra and Brooke Niles were honored in a pre-match ceremony, the two teams battled back-and-forth at the outset of game one and found themselves deadlocked in a 12-12 tie. At that point USC reeled off a 7-1 run sparked by Emily Adams and Lauren Killian teaming up on consecutive blocks. The Gauchos fought back and pulled within 29-28 following a big kill out of the back row by Bauer, the newly-crowned Big West Conference Player of the Year. However the Women of Troy silenced the enthusiastic crowd by claiming the opening frame on a UCSB hitting miscue.
Game two was also a hotly-contested affair at the outset, with the home team taking a slim 15-14 advantage on a block by Niles and sophomore middle blocker Niki Carroll. April Ross quickly answered for USC, and was back to serve as her team embarked on a 6-0 run. That provided a big enough cushion for the visitors, who hit a solid .350 in game two compared to just .098 by Santa Barbara.
With the Trojans holding a 19-15 lead in game three, UCSB head coach Kathy Gregory called a timeout and her troops responded with four unanswered points ignited by a Francina Edmonds cross-court kill to knot things up. A tip by Niles later found the floor as the Gauchos went ahead 22-21, but with the score deadlocked at 24 the nation's No, 1 team embarked on a 4-0 run. USC junior outside hitter Katie Olsovsky then secured match point with a big block solo.
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Olsovsky led all players with 15 kills and connected at a .462 clip. Keao Burdine also reached double-figures with 13 put-aways, while libero Nicole Davis matched her career-high of 24 digs. Coming in to provide a defensive spark in game one and finishing with a match-high seven blocks was Killian.
The Women of Troy used their superior height to rack up 11.0 team blocks vs. 7.0 for Santa Barbara, which received a team-best 10 kills from Guerra in her final regular-season home match. The All-Big West First Team performer also dug 13 balls for her 13th double-double of the season. Four other UCSB players amassed double-digit digs, but the team only hit at a collective .116 percentage on the evening as Gregory was denied her 700th career victory.
The Big West Champion Gauchos will now await the announcement of the 2002 NCAA Tournament brackets on Sunday, Dec. 1 at 6:00 p.m. The selection show can be viewed live on ESPNews.
