Volleyball Earns First Big West Win With 3-2 Battle Over Mustangs

Friday, October 23

Student Recreation Center

7:00 pm

UC Riverside

Cal Poly

Volleyball Earns First Big West Win With 3-2 Battle Over Mustangs

10/23/2009 10:52:12 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score - UC Riverside 3, Cal Poly 2

Riverside, CA - Led by double-digit kills from seniors Dominique Cowling and Tonbara Youpele, the UC Riverside volleyball team won their their first Big West Conference match of the season in a hard-fought 3-2 battle, 25-12, 20-25, 26-24, 22-25 and 15-12, over visiting Cal Poly on Friday evening at the Student Recreation Center. UCR's record improves to 3-15, 1-7 while the Mustangs drop to 6-16, 2-7.

Cowling led all players with 22 kills while Youpele added 20 for UCR. This is the second match this season in which two Highlanders recorded over 20 kills each on the same night. Earlier this year at CSU Bakersfield, this same duo of outside hitters each posted over 20 kills, marking the first time since 2004 that this feat was accomplished.

Youpele also led the team hitting .250 while Brittney Murrey posted a game-high 51 assists and six different Highlanders recorded at least two blocks each, led by Kelley Quinn's five block assists. Four other UCR players tallied double-digit digs led by Katherine Castillo's game-high 27.

The Highlanders are now a perfect 3-0 in matches that have gone into five sets on the season as they defeated Sac State and CSUB by identical 3-2 scores.

UCR came out of the gate strong in the first set by opening up a 3-0 lead and never looking back as they hit .375 as a team while limiting Cal Poly to just .029, winning easily 25-12. The Mustangs 12 points is the lowest a Highlanders opponent have scored so far this season.

In the second set, though, there were eight tie scores and three lead changes early on as both teams traded points through the first six points. Cal Poly then took a four-point advantage at 13-9 before UCR rallied to tie the set at 14 apiece and proceeded to score the next two points to take a 16-14 lead.

The Mustangs then ran off a 6-0 rally of their own in which they retook the lead at 20-16 as that gave them the momentum to close out the set 25-20 and even out the match at one game apiece.

The third set was pivotal for the Highlanders down the stretch they trailed 23-20 to Cal Poly. UC Riverside put on their rally caps, however, and used great defense to limit the Mustangs scoring to just two more points for the remainder of the frame.

UCR got within two, 23-21, on a Cowling kill before Cal Poly scored again and led at set-point 24-21. The Highlanders called a timeout to regroup, and during the next two possessions Cal Poly made a service error and an attack error to bring the score to within one, 24-23.

After a Mustang timeout, Shelby LeDuff made a huge block solo to even the set at 24 all as two consecutive Highlanders kills put the set out of reach as UCR finished off their comeback for the third set win, 26-24.

In the fourth set, though, Cal Poly got the better of the Highlanders as they pushed the match to the decisive fifth set by winning 25-22.

UCR took an early 3-0 lead in the final set before the Mustangs rallied for a 8-6 advantage. The Highlanders then scored the next four points to retake the lead at 10-8 before Cal Poly tied the score again at 10 all, 11 all, and 12 all.

UC Riverside took a 13-12 lead off a Mustang service error before closing out the match with kills from Quinn and Cowling for the 15-12 victory.

UC Riverside continues their weekend homestand with a 7:00 pm match on Saturday, Oct. 24 against UC Santa Barbara. Live stats may be viewed here.

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