NORTHRIDGE, Calif. - It was another night of program history for UC Riverside volleyball on Friday at Premier America Credit Union Arena.
Fresh off the program's first Big West sweep since 2018, the Highlanders outhit their second straight Big West opponent and secured back-to-back conference victories for the first time since 2015 in the process with a gutsy 3-2 win over CSUN.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- UC Riverside dropped set one 25-19, but not before the Highlanders battled to make it closer than expected. CSUN pulled out a 20-11 lead, but UCR went on a 7-3 run to close the gap to 23-18. Sophia Ewalefo led UCR in set one with four kills and six digs.
- The Highlanders erased an early 5-0 deficit in set two, tying the frame at six with an ace from Beatriz Silva before closing out set two with a 4-0 run thanks to set point from Mylei Vargas-Deason.
- Vargas-Deason closed out yet another set with a kill, this one her ninth of the evening to put UCR up two sets to one. CSUN responded with a win in set four to set up UCR's second five-set match this season.
- UC Riverside held CSUN to a negative hitting percentage in a decisive set five.
HIGHLANDER HIGHLIGHTS
- UCR avenged a five-set home loss to CSUN last season, winning just its second series meeting in its last seven.
- Friday night was UCR's second five-set match this season and second straight five-set bout with CSUN, in addition to the Highlanders' first five-set Big West victory on the road since downing Long Beach State in 2021. WIth the win, UC Riverside is now above .500 in Big West play through at least three matches for the first time in the program's 23-year Division I history.
- Vargas-Deason and Ewalefo each recorded a pair of double doubles on the night. Vargas-Deason put up her second 10-kill performance of Big West action with 10 digs and a season-high 14 kills while Ewalefo made it double-digit kills for the fifth time in the New Orleans transfer's last six matches, logging 13 kills and 14 digs. Vargas-Deason, Ewalefo, Tylee Fuller and Beatriz Silva combined for 46 of the Highlanders' 69 digs.
- UCR racked up a season-high 12 blocks against the Matadors on Friday, the team's most since 15 in a four-set win over Cal State Fullerton in 2019. As such, the Highlanders forced 31 attack errors on the night, the most by a UCR opponent this season.
FROM COACH CANNON
"This win means exactly what I knew we were capable of. Our preseason record was preparing us to be resilient through hard things. The Big West is a tough conference to play in and we are prepared."
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