Volleyball Opens Molten Classic With 3-0 Loss To Northern Arizona

Friday, September 7

Berkeley, CA

5:00 pm

UC Riverside

3-4

Northern Arizona

7-0

Team	1	2	3	Final F
UC Riverside	21	24	19	0
NAU	25	26	25	3

Photo by: Gabriel L. Acosta

Volleyball Opens Molten Classic With 3-0 Loss To Northern Arizona

9/7/2012 6:58:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

Box Score - Northern Arizona 3, UC Riverside 0

Berkeley, CA—The UC Riverside Volleyball Team (3-4) opened play at the Cal Molten Classic Presented by Hilton Garden Inn Friday afternoon with a 3-0 loss to Northern Arizona, 25-21, 26-24 and 25-19 at Haas Pavilion. The Highlanders fall to 3-4 on the season while the Lumberjacks improve to a perfect 7-0.

Shelby LeDuff led all players with 15 kills while Emily Borges and Megan Patterson tied for the game-high with 10 digs apiece.

The Highlanders capitalized on an attack error from NAU to go up by their largest margin, 9-5, early in the first set. The Lumberjacks rallied, however, scoring six of the next seven points to take an 11-10 lead.

UCR went back up 14-12 before Northern Arizona again made a run, opening a 17-14 advantage, and pushing the lead out to 21-16.

The Highlanders scored four of the next five points to close the gap to just two, 22-20, but could not complete the comeback as NAU held on for the 25-21 victory.

Similar to the first set, UC Riverside again led early in set two, going up 11-5 following a Bianca Endersby kill, consecutive service aces from Borges, and a Tyler Dorsey kill.

The Highlanders were up by five, 13-8, when the Lumberjacks made a 5-0 run to close to 13-12. UCR got one point back after a timeout, and maintained its lead late into the frame, until 20-17. NAU rallied again, though, eventually taking a 21-20 lead.

UCR used kills from Monique Holt and LeDuff to go up 23-22, and after trading points, the Highlanders led at set-point, 24-23, following an Ashley Cox kill. Unfortunately for UC Riverside, three straight errors proved to be fatal as Northern Arizona came from behind to win 26-24, and take a 2-0 lead in the match.

In the third set, UCR trailed by just three, 14-11, midway through, but found themselves in a 21-14 hole late in the frame. Kills from Holt, Dorsey and Cox prompted a Lumberjacks timeout as the Highlanders ran off three straight points to close to 21-17.

Following the timeout, a UCR service error put a stop to the run, and the Highlanders could get no closer before falling 25-19.

After starting the year 2-0, the Highlanders have now dropped four of their last five contests, and are on a three-match losing streak--the longest such streak of the young season.

Next up for UC Riverside is an 11 am PT Saturday match against the host Golden Bears, followed by a 5 pm contest against Penn.

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