Riverside, CA—The UC Riverside Volleyball Team (9-12, 1-8) hosts UC Irvine (19-4, 7-3) on Thursday, November 2, and travels to UC Davis (13-11, 5-6) on Saturday, November 4. Both matches begin at 7 pm PT.
GAME NOTES
OUT OF THE GATES
The Highlanders have won nine of their twenty-one matches this season, which is the third-best start to a season in their Division I history.
|
Thru Match 21 |
Result In Match |
| Year |
W-L |
21 |
22 |
23 |
| 2005 |
14-7 |
W |
L |
L |
| 2004 |
10-11 |
W |
L |
L |
| 2017 |
9-12 |
|
|
|
| 2001 |
8-13 |
L |
L |
L |
ROLLING DOUBLES
With one more victory, the Highlanders will reach double-digit wins for the fifth time in their Division I history.
| Year |
W-L |
| 2005 |
16-11 |
| 2004 |
11-18 |
| 2001 |
10-17 |
| 2015 |
10-19 |
| 2017 |
9-12 |
LENDING A HELPING HAND
As of October 28, Chelsea Doyle ranks fourth in the Big West in assists per set this season, with an average of 9.95. She entered the season ranked seventh on the Highlanders' career list, and has passed Tiffany Brooke's ('04) 2,157 assists and Laura Ratto's ('01) 2,563 to move into fifth place. Doyle trails Christi Karsten ('94) in fourth place by 37 assists.
She also established a new career-high of 60 assists in a 3-1 victory over Cal State Fullerton on October 7 (
box score/
recap).
| UC Riverside Career Assist Leaders |
| Pos |
Student-Athlete |
Years |
Assists |
| 1 |
Regina Carbajal |
1987-90 |
4,492 |
| 2 |
Brittney Murrey |
2006-09 |
3,502 |
| 3 |
Kym Murphy |
2002-04 |
3,407 |
| 4 |
Christi Karsten |
1990-93 |
2,608 |
| 5 |
Chelsea Doyle |
2015-present |
2,571 |
| 6 |
Laura Ratto |
1997-2000 |
2,563 |
DIG 'EM
Nicole Rodriguez is third in the Big West with 4.19 digs per set. As a team, UC Riverside continues to rank first in the conference in digs per set (16.81).
YULI FROM THE BLOCK
Freshman Yuliya Ushakova is eighth in the Big West with 0.94 blocks per set.
EXTERMINATE!
As of October 28, the Highlanders boast five of the top 30 attackers in the conference as ranked by kills per set—Ahuna (12th, 3.17), Sherman (13th, 2.84), Callahan (18th, 2.31), Grove (24th, 2.08), Rosas (30th, 1.88).
CHIMNEY SWEEP
The Highlanders have four, 3-0 sweeps in 2017. They only had three, 3-0 sweeps during the 2016 campaign.
FRESH FROSH
In 2016, outside hitter Mickayla Sherman was named to the
All-Conference Freshman Team, and was also the first player in the history of the program to win Big West Freshman of the Week (
story). Yuliya Ushakova joined Sherman as Highlanders with conference freshman of the week honors on their résumés when she garnered the award on September 4 of this year (
story). Nicole Rodriguez did likewise on September 19 (
story).
DOING IT WITH DEFENSE
Freshman Nicole Rodriguez earned Big West Defensive Player of the Week honors in the season's first week after being named to the 2017 Titan All-Tournament Team, averaging a league-best 5.80 digs per set (
story).
ALL-TOURNEY TEAMS
Nicole Rodriguez and Meg Graham each were named to the Titan All-Tournament Team in the season's opening weekend. Kaiulani Ahuna and Fabiana Rosas were likewise honored for their performance at Texas Tech's Red Raider Classic in the third weekend of the season (
story).
BACK FOR THE ATTACK
The Highlanders return five of their top six attacking players from last season. Mickayla Sherman led the squad with 312 kills, followed by Meg Graham's 206, Brooke Callahan's 179, Chelsea Doyle's 82, and Fabiana Rosas' 57.
