Riverside—The UC Riverside Volleyball Team travels to face CSUN in a Tuesday night match-up, before returning home to take on Cal State Fullerton Friday night in the SRC Arena. Both matches begin at 7 pm PT.
UC Riverside is coming off a 3-0 defeat versus #14 Hawai'i Friday night at home in front the third-largest crowd (676) in DI program history. The Highlanders played the Rainbow Wahine at close range in sets two and three (18-25, 22-25), and even led midway through the third, 12-8.
Mickayla Sherman
(Antioch, CA) paced the Highlanders with 11 kills, while Maddie Hubbell
(Bakersfield, CA) led the defense with 18 digs in the defeat (
box score/
recap).
Sherman leads the team with 108 total kills in Big West play. Brooke Callahan
(Bishop, CA) has been the squad's most efficient hitter at .196, and has the third-most kills with 65 during conference play. Cristina Maietta is second on the team in both kills (69) and digs (98) during league play.
Meg Graham (Aguora Hills, CA) helps defend the net, averaging 0.81 block per set versus conference foes. Hubbell is averaging 4.22 digs through nine Big West matches, and now has 1589 for her career— 94 digs away from cracking the top-10 of the conference's all-time digs list at 1683.
CSUN picked up its first home win of the 2016 season Saturday night, when the Matadors came back from two sets down to claim a 3-2 victory over UC Irvine. Aeryn Owens leads the offense with 3.83 kills per set—fourth-best in the Big West—and also pitches in on the defensive side of the net with 110 total digs.
Melissa Eaglin is the Matador's most efficient hitter at .260 through 10 league matches, and is also the top blocker with 1.05 a frame. Katie Sato's 4.60 digs per rank second during conference play to lead the CSUN defensive back row.
UCR trails in the overall series 58-21. The clubs split last year's matches, both of which were five-setters (
all-time results).
Cal State Fullerton was also swept by Hawai'i in its last match at home on Saturday night.
Shimen Fayad tops the squad in kills (116), digs (99), and service aces (6).The sophomore also ranks second on the team in blocks per set (0.81) behind Kyra Smith (0.90). Madeline Schneider is the Titans' most efficient hitter at .233, and second on the team with 106 kills in conference play.
Rachel Hall leads the team with 194 assists, and Madisen Babich is second on the team with 97 digs.
In the 2016 Big West opener in Fullerton, the Highlanders took the first set 25-23, but were defeated 3-1 (
box score/
recap). The Titans lead the overall series 31-15-1 (
all-time results).
GAME NOTES
SHE CAN DIG IT
With 17 digs at UC Davis on October 20, 2016, Maddie Hubbell became the UC Riverside Volleyball program's all-time digs leader, surpassing 2015 UCR Athletics Hall of Fame Inductee and Two-Time All-American Sheryl Benson-Rawlins' (84, 86, 88-89) mark of 1,556 (
all-time list).
Hubbell has 1,589 digs for her career, and is now 94 digs away from breaking into the top-10 on the Big West all-time digs list with 1,683. The Highlanders have seven matches remaining in the 2016 regular season.Â
Big West Volleyball Record Book
FRESHMAN?
Freshman outside hitter Mickayla Sherman became the first player in the history of the UCR Volleyball program to win Big West Freshman of the Week for her play October 10-16 (
story). Sherman had a career-high 26 kills and 11 digs in the Highlanders win over UCSB on Friday October 14th. Her 26 kills matched the season-high total set by Fabiana Rosas in the season's opening weekend against Southern Utah (
box score/
recap).
FIRST THINGS FIRST
UCR has taken the first set in four of nine contests during Big West conference play, including three of four while in the friendly confines of the SRC Arena.
RECORD BREAKERS, HISTORY MAKERS
The Highlanders had five wins in conference play last year, besting the 2003, 2005 and 2011 squads for the most Big West victories in program history.
Â
| Year |
W |
L |
Pct |
| 2015 |
5 |
11 |
.313 |
| 2005 |
4 |
10 |
.286 |
| 2011 |
4 |
12 |
.250 |
| 2003 |
4 |
14 |
.222 |
INDY 500
This season, 676 blue and gold faithful supporters saw the Highlanders take on the Rainbow Wahine in the newly renovated SRC Arena.
Â
| Date |
Opponent |
Att. |
| September 24, 2011 |
CSUN |
745 |
| September 27, 2014 |
Hawai'i (#25) |
731 |
| October 28, 2016 |
Hawai'i (#14) |
676 |
| October 3, 2015 |
Hawai'i (#10) |
629 |
| October 27, 2001 |
Long Beach State |
625 |
| September 21, 2012 |
Hawai'i (#7) |
594 |
| October 4, 2002 |
Long Beach State |
586 |
| October 26, 2001 |
UC Irvine |
575 |
| September 3, 2008 |
UCLA (#6) |
535 |
| November 17, 2001 |
Cal State Fullerton |
513 |
| September 25, 2015 |
Cal State Fullerton |
510 |
AND NEW ...
The Highlanders welcome 11 new players to the fold—nine freshmen and two transfers. The 2016 squad returns seven letter winners and five starters, led by All-Conference honorees Maddie Hubbell and Chelsea Doyle along with Fabiana Rosas, Meg Graham and Cristina Maietta.
BLUE AND GOLD DIGGER
As a sophomore in 2014, Maddie Hubbell ranked eighth in the Big West in digs per set with 3.59. Last season, she led the conference in total digs (525) and in digs per set (4.91), earning her First Team All-Conference honors.
This season, Hubbell is averaging 4.23 digs per set. Should she maintain that average, she will land in the top-10 of the single-season digs per set ranks in the program's history.
She was twice named Big West Defensive Player of the Week in 2015—August 31-September 6 and November 7-13. In 2016, she picked up the award in the season's opening weekend August 26-27. (
story)
Â
| Digs Per Set (min. 100) |
| Sheryl Benson |
5.7 |
1988 |
| Leanna Clark |
5.1 |
1988 |
| Melanie Jones |
5.0 |
1987 |
| Maddie Hubbell |
4.91 |
2015 |
| Janna Stern |
4.5 |
1998 |
ALL-TOURNEY TEAMS
This season, Fabiana Rosas and Maddie Hubbell were named to the Cal Molten Classic All-Tournament Team (
story), Chelsea Doyle was named to the All-Tournament in Utah State Invitational
(story), and Meg Graham was selected to the Roadrunner Classic All-Tournament Team (
story).
SWEPT UP
Last season, UCR had four victories by way of the 3-0 sweep—September 4th vs. Grand Canyon, September 12th vs Central Michigan, November 7th at Cal State Fullerton, and November 14th at home against UC Santa Barbara. The 2005 squad set the DI mark with nine victories in three frames.
see results
The Highlanders have two sweeps to their credit in 2016—August 26th vs. Southern Utah, and September 9th vs. Southeastern Louisiana.
PLEADING THE FOURTH AND FIFTH
The Highlanders played to four or five sets in 13 of 28 matches last season. The 2004, 2007 and 2012 squads all played 15 matches to four or five sets to claim the UCR Division I mark.
In 2016, the Highlanders have played to four or five sets in 13 of their 21 matches, including five out of their nine Big West matches.
LET THERE BE HEIGHT!
Of the 11 newcomers to the Highlanders 2016 squad, five are taller than 6-0, giving UC Riverside six 6-footers overall, which matches last season's total.
(ALMOST) OVER THE RAINBOW
UC Riverside took the first set from nationally ranked Hawai'i in the last match of the 2014 season, 25-19. It marked the first time the Highlanders had won a set against the Rainbow Wahine since 1984, spanning 20 sets. UCR also nearly topped Hawai'i in the second set of their September 27, 2014 meeting, but the Rainbow Wahine eked out a 29-27 victory.
On October 30th, 2015 the Highlanders took the third set from #6 ranked Hawai'i 25-18, and narrowly lost the decisive fourth set 25-23.
GENERAL PATTON-(COLEMAN)
UC Riverside Volleyball is in it's the fourth season under Head Coach Michelle Patton-Coleman. Patton-Coleman came to the Highlanders following five seasons at San Francisco State, where she took over a program that lay dormant for four years (2004-07). The Gators advanced to two NCAA Tournaments during her tenure including a 21-9 mark in 2012 which included a program-record 16 conference victories.
Â
