RIVERSIDE, Calif.— The UC Riverside Women's Volleyball Team's 2018 season comes to a close this weekend as the Highlanders will play their final two matches on the road. UCR is set to face Cal Poly Friday night before heading to UC Santa Barbara on Saturday. Both matches are set to start at 7:00 PM and can be watched on BigWest.TV.
SCOUTING THE MUSTANGS
Cal Poly comes into Friday's match at the top of the conference with a 23-2 overall record and a 13-1 conference mark. The Highlanders and Mustangs met back in September in Riverside with Cal Poly taking the 3-0 win.
SCOUTING THE GAUCHOS
UC Santa Barbara is currently at .500 in conference at 7-7, but is 15-11 overall. The Highlanders hosted the Gauchos in their first home conference match of the season falling 3-1 to UCSB.
FRESHMAN OF THE WEEK
After a phenomenal weekend on the attack, freshman outside hitter Marissa Holt of the UC Riverside Women's Volleyball Team was awarded the Big West Conference Freshman Player of the Week.
Holt tallied 42 kills in two matches over the weekend helping the Highlanders to a 5-set sin over CSUN Saturday night. She averaged 4.67 kills p/set and hit an efficient .323 percent.
Against Long Beach State Holt put up 17 kills, which ranked 2nd on the team and against the Matadors she saw a career-high 25 kills on .353 hitting.
BREAKING RECORDS
Last Tuesday night at CSUN, senior setter Chelsea Doyle etched her name into Highlander History becoming UCR's Division I assist leader with 3,503. This is the most by Highlander since 2009 and is the 2nd most All-Time in program history.
FRESHMAN ON FIRE
The Highlander freshmen have already made a huge impact in just their first year of playing at the DI level.
Outside-hitter Nailah Jones has been a true offensive force in her first year as a Highlander as she has posted double-digit kills in 11 matches this year. This includes two dominant 15 kill performances over Nevada and San Francisco, and a career high 20 over UCSB this past weekend.
Outside-hitter Christina Escamilla has been a spark plug as of late averaging registering double-digit kills in five of her last nine matches including a career high 19 vs Long Beach. Middle-hitter Ashlyn Blotzer also collected a career high at CBU with 10 kills.
BIG ON DIGS
The Highlanders' defense has held strong all year as the team's 16.77 digs p/set and 1744 rank 2nd in the Big West Conference. This feat has helped UCR extend plays, stay in rallies, and eventually turn them into Highlander points.
COUNT ON CHELSEA
Senior setter Chelsea Doyle has been crucial to the Highlander offense, setting up her teammates at every opportunity. Her 9.23 assists p/set average and 978 total assists both rank 4th in conference.
SWEEPING AWAY THE COMPETITION
The Highlanders have earned three of their nine wins in sweeping fashion topping both UMASS Lowell, Idaho State, and Cal State Fullerton 3-0.
KAI DON'T LIE
Senior outside hitter Kaiulani Ahuna has been nothing short of spectacular in the 2018 season. Opening weekend, Ahuna broke two program records notching 30 kills (Rally-Scoring Era Record) in a win over Montana and then smashing 33 more (DI Record) on Eastern Washington to become the first Highlander to ever put up 30+ on back-to-back days. Following this weekend, Ahuna led the NCAA in total kills and kills p/set and was awarded Player of the Week Awards from the Big West Conference, VolleyMob, and the AVCA.
On September 14th, Ahuna would again make the Highlander history book breaking her own personal record and UCR's Division I record with a 34 kill performance against Idaho. She now has recorded three of UCR's top-six single match performances.
