Highlanders In Week Seven Big West Match #4, Home Match #2

Saturday, October 8 vs UC Irvine 7:00 pm-SRC Arena

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Riverside—The UC Riverside Volleyball Team continues its home stand with the second of four straight matches in the SRC Arena over the next two weeks when the Highlanders host UC Irvine on Saturday at 7pm PT.
 
UC Riverside (5-10, 0-3) is coming off a, 3-1, defeat in its home opener against Long Beach State Wednesday, when they took the opening set, 25-21, behind Brooke Callahan's eight kills on nine attempts (story).
 
Callahan finished with 15 kills to lead UCR. Cristina Maietta had 16 digs to go with 10 kills, and Chelsea Doyle logged 43 assists, and nine digs in the loss.

Maddie Hubbell and Frances Camandang chipped in 17 and 14 digs respectively. Hubbell ranks fourth in the Big West with 4.29 per set.
 
UC Riverside is hitting .135 (636-355-2083) through 15 matches, compared to UC Irvine, who has played 19 matches, at .221 (939-394-2464).
 
UC Irvine (6-13, 1-4) lost in three sets Thursday night at Cal Poly. Their lone conference victory came in a sweep at Cal State Fullerton last week.
 
The Aneaters' also swept USC in Los Angeles when the Trojans were ranked seventh in the country.
 
Offensively, UCI is led by Victoria Dennis, who averages 3.63 kills per set, which ranks fifth in the Big West. Shelley Anderson directs the attack, and leads the team with 7.83 assists per set.
 
Luna Tsujimoto protects the back row for the Eaters'. Her 270 total digs this season are the third-most in the conference. Danielle Geiger leads the block effort with 56 total rejections.
 
The Highlanders trail in the overall series 14-32-1, and will try to snap a skid of six straight defeats, which includes sweeps in the last five meetings (all time results).
 

GAME NOTES
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.
 

Year	W	L	Pct
2015	5	11	.313
2005	4	10	.286
2011	4	12	.250
2003	4	14	.222

INDY 500
The Highlanders 3-2 victory over Cal State Fullerton on September 25, 2015 was witnessed by 510 rabid UC Riverside fans—the ninth highest attended match in the Division I history of the program ... or rather the 10th highest, as 629 fans attended the team's match against #10 Hawai'i on October 3.
 

Date	Opponent	Att.
September 24, 2011	CSUN	745
September 27, 2014	Hawai'i (#25)	731
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 freshman 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 4.29 digs per set. Should she maintain that average, she will rank fourth in single-season digs per set in the program's Division I 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)
 

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 nine of their 15 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.