Bakersfield—The UC Riverside Volleyball team battle back from two sets down to force a fifth set in a 3-2 loss to Northern Arizona, and fell in three competitive sets to CSU Bakersfield in the Roadrunner Classic Friday.

Northern Arizona
In the first match of the Roadrunner Classic, the Highlanders fought back from two sets down to force a decisive fifth set, but fell 3-2 to Northern Arizona, who entered to the match with an RPI of 33—the highest of any team faced by the Highlanders this season.

After dropping the first two sets, 25-21 and 25-18, UCR was locked in third set that featured ties at 13, 15 and at 18, when the Lumberjacks scored three straight to force Coach Patton to call for time facing a 21-18 deficit.

The Highlanders climbed back in the set to tie it at 24 apiece, following a NAU timeout. Brooke Callahan had a kill assisted Cristina Maietta to put UCR on serve for the third set. Freshman Frances Camandang then delivered her only service ace of the match to close out the third 26-24 and extend the match.

In the fourth frame, UC Riverside found itself down 16-10 midway through the set, trying to find momentum. The Highlanders then had a rally with kills from Maietta, Callahan and Mickayla Sherman in taking seven of the next 10 points, before ultimately tying up the set at 20 apiece.

The tie at 20 all would be the last of the set as UCR forged ahead 23-20 en route to claiming the fourth set 25-22 and forcing a fifth set.

In the final set, NAU was ahead 14-10 when Chelsea Doyle and Meg Graham forced at attack error and Sherman had a kill to make 14-12. The Lumberjacks closed out the match on a kill from Lauren Jacobsen, who had a match-high 20 kills.

Sherman led the Highlanders with 16 kills. Callahan and Graham had 13 and 11 kills respectively to round out three players with double-digit kills. Doyle had 39 assists and Maddie Hubbell had 29 digs to the defense.

CSU Bakersfield
In the second match of the day, the Highlanders fell 3-0 to tournament host CSU Bakersfield in a match that featured three competitive sets.

The Roadrunners jumped out to a 15-5 lead over the first 20 points of the match en route to a first set victory by the same 10-point margin, 25-15.

In the second set neither established a notable margin until the home team moved ahead 19-15. The Highlanders then forced two attack errors, followed by a pair of kills by Sherman that tied the set at 19. Bakersfield responded with three straight and closed out the second set, 25-23.

Midway through the third and final set, the score was tied at 17 all when UCR went by two, 19-17 on an attack error and a kill by Callahan.  The Roadrunners then got two points in a row to tie things up at 19.

The clubs traded points all the way to 25-25, when Bakersfield got back-to-back aces from Katie Dubar-Lowe to claim the third set 27-25 and the match 3-0.

Sherman had 10 kills in the loss, and Graham six while hitting a team-high .353 for the match.
 
UC Riverside will play its final match of the non-conference slate Saturday at noon, when they closeout the Roadrunner Classic against the University of San Francisco.