Riverside, CA—The UC Riverside Volleyball Team (9-16, 1-12) hosts front-running Cal Poly (24-2, 14-0) on Friday, November 17 at 7 pm PT, and UC Santa Barbara (7-18, 6-7) on Saturday, November 18 at 7:30 pm PT. ESPN 3 is broadcasting both matches.
GAME NOTES
OUT OF THE GATES
The Highlanders have won nine of their twenty-five matches this season, which is their third-best start to a season in their Division I history.
|
Thru Match 25 |
Result In Match |
| Year |
W-L |
26 |
27 |
28 |
| 2005 |
15-10 |
W |
L |
— |
| 2004 |
11-14 |
L |
L |
L |
| 2017 |
9-16 |
|
|
|
| 2001 |
8-17 |
W |
W |
— |
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 |
9-16 |
LENDING A HELPING HAND
As of November 13, Chelsea Doyle ranks fifth in the Big West in assists per set this season, with an average of 9.66. She entered the season ranked seventh on the Highlanders' career list, and has passed Tiffany Brooks' ('04) 2,157 assists, Laura Ratto's ('01) 2,563, and Christi Karsten's ('94) 2,608 to move into fourth place.
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 |
2002-05 |
3,407 |
| 4 |
Chelsea Doyle |
2015-present |
2,695 |
| 5 |
Christi Karsten |
1990-93 |
2,608 |
| 6 |
Laura Ratto |
1997-2000 |
2,563 |
| 7 |
Tiffany Brooke |
2001-04 |
2,157 |
DIG 'EM
Nicole Rodriguez is fifth in the Big West with 3.93 digs per set. As a team, UC Riverside continues to rank first in the conference in digs per set (16.30).
YULI FROM THE BLOCK
Freshman Yuliya Ushakova is ninth in the Big West with 0.85 blocks per set.
EXTERMINATE!
As of November 13, the Highlanders boast six of the top 27 attackers in the conference as ranked by kills per set—Ahuna (12th, 3.05), Sherman (13th, 2.84), Callahan (19th, 2.24), Graham (24th, 2.02), Grove (25th, 1.98), and Rosas (27th, 1.96).
CHIMNEY SWEEP
The Highlanders have four, 3-0 sweeps in 2017. They only had three, 3-0 sweeps during the 2016 campaign.
CLOSE, BUT NO CIGAR
UC Riverside has lost four conference matches in five sets this season. That is more than in each of the previous four seasons combined (2).
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.
