No. 24 Pioneers remain undefeated with upset of No. 11 UC San Diego
Freshman outside hitter Katie Allen led the Pioneers with a season-high 20 kills in the upset of No. 11 UCSD. (Photo: Ron Allen)
- September 15, 2010
LA JOLLA,Calif. - In a tremendous match between two nationally ranked teams, No. 24 Cal State East Bay defeated host No. 11 UC San Diego, 3-2 (27-25, 25-22, 19-25,22-25, 15-13), on Wednesday night. The Pioneers (8-0, 3-0 CCAA) pulled out the victory to remain undefeated on the year and continue their best start since 2007, while handing the Tritons their first conference loss of the season.
"I'm proud of my team," CSUEB Head Coach Jim Spagle said. "It was a great team effort that challenged every inch of every kid in our program. The action jumped back and forth between two very tough teams."
The Pioneers led 24-22 in the first set before the Tritons scored three unanswered points to take a 25-24 lead. After East Bay tied the set at 25 points apiece, sophomore Brianna Bryant and freshman Katie Allen recorded back-to-back kills to give the Pioneers the win in a hard-fought first set. Allen led the Pioneers in the first set with nine kills.
In the second set, the Pioneers maintained a narrow lead throughout and took the set with another Allen kill, giving East Bay a 2-0 lead at the break.
East Bay jumped out to 6-1 lead in the third set only to see the Tritons tie the match 15-15. UC San Diego went on a 9-4 run, led by a pair of kills by Julia Freidenberg to gain a 24-19 advantage before a Pioneer error gave the Tritons their first set of the match.
Trailing 3-1, UCSD led 12-9 and maintained a 24-22 advantage in the fourth set. Kaitlin Potter followed with a kill to tie the match at two sets apiece.
In the decisive fifth set, the Pioneers trailed 10-8 before Allen recorded back-to-back kills to pull East Bay even. Senior Ariel Ajagu followed with a putaway of her own to give the Pioneers an 11-10 lead.
After East Bay took advantage of a bad Triton set, UCSD got the sideout thanks to a Pioneer attack error. Leading 14-13, the Pioneers won the set and the match on a Triton attack error.
Allen ended the match with a season-high 20 kills. Bryant followed with 14 putaways and senior Roxanne Neely had a double-double with 11 kills and 19 digs. K.C. Walsh, seeing her first action in CCAA play, responded with 42 assists and 15 digs. Senior libero Lauren Massa had a season-best 34 digs in the back row for East Bay.
"Seniors Lauren Massa and Katie Glomb had some amazing digs in the back row," Spagle said. "Roxanne Neely and K.C. Walsh had great all-around matches in the victory. Walsh kept our attackers swinging at great sets and Brianna Bryant and Ariel Ajagu as well as freshmen Katie Allen and Mona Goudarzian pounded them home."
Potter led UC San Diego (5-2, 2-1) with 18 kills. Katie Condon followed with 17 kills and completed a double-double with 16 digs. Roxanne Brunsting also recorded a double-double with 22 digs and 12 kills.
"It was a great win," Spagle said. "Now we need to focus hard on two excellent teams on Friday and Saturday."
The Pioneers continue their road trip on Friday when they take on San Francisco State at 7 p.m. before traveling to Cal State Monterey Bay to close out the week on Saturday.