Highlanders In Week Four Roadrunner Classic-Bakersfield, CA

Friday, September 16

vs. Northern Arizona-1:30 pm, PT

Live Stats

at CSU Bakersfield-6:30 pm, PT

Live Stats

Saturday, September 17

vs. San Francisco-12 noon, PT

Live Stats

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Bakersfield, CA—The UC Riverside Volleyball Team will conclude the non-conference slate of matches with the CSU Bakersfield hosted Roadrunner Classic September 15-16.

The Highlanders enter the week at 4-5, a full game ahead of last year's pace through nine matches (3-6). Monday, they hosted a co-training session with Chinese Pro Volleyball Team Shandong 17-19, who was in the midst of their 23-day US tour. See Highlights

In last week's Utah State Invitational, they went 1-2 with a sweep of Southeastern Louisiana and 3-0 defeats at the hands of Utah State and Portland State.

Chelsea Doyle led the way for UCR, averaging 21 assists, 7.7 digs and 1.7 aces per match, which earned her All-Tournament Team honors. She currently tops the team in assists (8.86/s), aces (12) and is second in total digs (76).

Mickayla Sherman leads the squad with 88 kills in 2016, and Meg Graham has tallied 67 kills while hitting a team-best .289-attack percentage.

On the defensive side of the net, Yuliya Ushakova and Graham have had a hand in 26 and 24 total blocks respectively—they each have three solo blocks so far this season.

Maddie Hubbell patrols the back row for the Highlanders and ranks 4th in the Big West in digs per set. (4.09)

NAU, Northern Arizona University 7-2
Friday, September 16 @1:30pm

The Lumberjacks have won five straight matches, including the last three by way of the 3-0 sweep. 

Lauren Jacobsen leads the team with 4.62 kills per set, 24^th in the NCAA. Sophomore Brittni Dorsey is 7th in the country with .67 aces per set, and Jensen Barton directs the attack, averaging 10.23 assists per frame. 

Jacobsen and Jordan Anderson have both logged a team-high 109 total digs on the year, and Abby Akin has 38 total blocks to lead the NAU defense. As a team, they are hitting .298 (431-98-1118) nearly twice that of their opponents, who have hit .145 (367-200-1150).

UCR trails 4-3 in the all-time series, having dropped four straight after taking the first three meetings between the programs. All-time results

CSU Bakersfield 1-9
Friday, September 16 @6:30pm

The tournament hosts have fallen in seven straight matches and have dropped the last three contests in four sets by the score of 3-1—the Roadrunners were swept in the previous four losses.

Carol Grasso and Sydney Haynes lead the Roadrunners at the net with 3.50 and 2.48 kills per set respectively. Fabiana Andrade orchestrates the attack with 173 assists this season. Katie Dunbar-Lowe averages a block per set up front and Jocelyn Rodriguez digs up 3.28 balls per frame along the back row.

The Runners are hitting .124 (413-250-1316) and allowing opponents to connect at .272 (481-147-1228), more than twice their rate.

The Highlanders lead the overall series 36-31, after breaking the 31-31 tie with victories in last five meetings in a series that dates back to 1976. All-time results


USF, University of San Francisco 4-6
Saturday, September 17 @ 12pm
 
The Dons enter week at 4-6 on the year, having lost five of their last six matches, the last of which was in straight sets to the Big West's UC Santa Barbara on Saturday night.

Tyna Adamcikova (3.56k/s) and Emily Reed (3.19k/s) are the team's top hitters, while Montana Green (4.58a/s) and Trish Koutsoukos (3.58a/s) set-up the offensive charge. Middle blockers Kate Ashman and Marjolijn Oskam have 17 and 16 solo blocks on the season.

San Fran has been outhit by their opponents on the year .227 (415-179-1039) to .194 (403-187-1115) through 10 matches.

The Highlanders are 2-3 all time versus the USF with the last meeting occurring 10 years ago in 2006. See results

GAME NOTES
TWO YEARS IN ONE
Last season; the Highlanders surpassed their combined win total from the previous two seasons in just their 11th (5-6) match of the year (2-26 in 2014, 2-26 in 2013).

At 4-5 heading into this week's Roadrunner Classic with three matches scheduled, they could surpassed that mark with a pair victories.

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

THE COMEBACK KIDS
UC Riverside trailed two sets to one at San Jose State on August 28, but battled back to win the match, three sets to two. That marked the first time the Highlanders had come back from that kind of deficit to win since September 14, 2012 vs. Florida Atlantic.

On September 25, the Highlanders again roared back from a two-sets-to-one deficit, but this time they also trailed in the fourth vs. Cal State Fullerton, 19-12. They took the fourth set 31-29 and won the fifth, 15-10.

GETTING OFF ON THE RIGHT FOOT
The Highlanders won their Big West Conference opening match of the season last year for the first time since 2005, with a 3-2 victory over Cal State Fullerton on September 25. The 2002 and 2003 UCR squads also won their first conference matches of the year, but the Highlanders have never begun Big West play with victories in their first two matches.

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, 9 freshman and 2 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
In 2014 as a sophomore, 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.

Should Hubbell maintain her digs per set 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
The Highlanders recorded five All-Tournament caliber performances during the non-conference portion of their schedule. Chelsea Doyle, Alex Gresham and Fabiana Rosas opened the 2015 season by being named to the San Jose State All-Tournament Team (story). Maddie Hubbell earned All-Tournament honors at the Bulldog Showdown (story). Helena Peric was named to the Grand Canyon Invitational All-Tournament Team (story).

In the season's first tournament, 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)

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.

2016-Four Sets 2-1, Five Sets, 0-1

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 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.