Box Score Riverside, CA—The UC Riverside Volleyball Team began its two match home stand Friday night with an epic five set victory over visiting UC Davis by the scores of 21-25, 25-21, 25-15, 23-25, and 19-17.
The Highlanders (7-14, 2-6) were led by Fabiana Rosas who had 22 kills, Helena Peric chipped in with 18 kills, while Alex Gresham added 13 to the cause. Chelsea Doyle had a season-high 55 assists and Maddie Hubble stabilized the defense with 33 digs. Kaylin Squyres had 20 kills to lead the Aggies (9-13, 4-4).
The Highlanders found themselves in a battle for the first set, and were leading 11-9 before an Aggies timeout was called. Davis emerged from the timeout to score nine out of the next 12 points forcing the Highlanders to call a timeout of their own. Davis rallied to set point at 24-18, and the Highlanders held on for three points in a row, but eventually dropped the first set 21-25.
The second set was back and forth before the Aggies created a three point margin on UCR, 8-11, the Highlanders then rallied to win six of the next seven points to take the lead 14-12. Davis stopped the action, by way of a timeout, in hopes of slowing UCR's momentum, however UCR couldn't be stopped and won 10 of the next 15 points. Davis was out of timeouts and UCR pressed on to win the second set 25-21.
UCR's momentum carried over into the third set, seeing them jump out to a 11-2 lead behind four kills by Alex Gresham and two from Fabiana Rosas in the run. The teams would split the next 20 points, then UCR was on the verge claiming another set leading 23-15, and the Aggies committed a service error that was followed up by a Helena Peric set clinching kill that sent the crowd into a frenzy.
The fourth set was played point for point with Kaylin Squyres and Helena Peric trading team inspiring kills to get the set fourth knotted at 13 a piece, and again at 19. The Aggies would not trail again in the fourth set as they took advantage of four Highlander errors in the final points of the set to take the fourth 23-25.
This would be the first time UCR would play to a fifth set since their comeback victory over Cal State Fullerton on September 25th. This time, the Highlanders were ahead two sets to one, having just lost the fourth and were trying to keep Davis from celebrating on thier home floor. In the break before the fifth set Highlander coach Michelle Patton-Coleman told her team, "Stay focused on your assignments, play point by point, and do the little things".
The fifth and final set was played at an intense level where every point was earned and every mistake was punished. UCR and Davis traded points until it was tied 7-7, the Highlanders then won three points in a row leading to an Aggie timeout. Davis responded by winning three out of the next four points to take the lead 10-11, forcing Coach Patton-Coleman to ask for time. UCR was unable to slow the Aggies down as they went ahead 13-14 and were serving for match, but Helena Peric had another timely kill to keep the Highlander hopes alive. UCR then found themselves ahead 15-14, which would be their first time serving for the match. Davis got a kill from Aima Ohiri to postpone the party. UCR would need four tries at match point before the little things put them over the top.
Leading 18-17, Alex Gresham was serving for the match. Her serve was controlled by the Aggies, who then played a softly tipped shot over the net, Gresham hustled all the way back up to the net from the service line to make a diving dig with the ball less than an inch from the floor. Gresham's dig was controlled by Chelsea Doyle, who set up Fabiana Rosas for the match winning kill. Coach Patton said the win was "a total team effort" and when asked about the Gresham save, Patton said "we practice those type of plays everyday."
The Highlanders won't have much time to celebrate snapping the six match losing streak, as UC Irvine comes to town for a Saturday night match at 7pm.
