Sept. 12, 2003

Final Stats

TUCSON, Ariz. - A historic day for the UC Santa Barbara women's volleyball team became even more memorable as the 11th-ranked Gauchos notched a 30-26, 28-30, 30-24, 30-19 victory at No. 14 Arizona in the McKale Center.

UCSB, which earlier Friday opened Arizona Invitational play by defeating American University 3-1 in the 1,000th match in school history, has now won three straight contests to improve to 4-2 on the young season. It is Santa Barbara's first victory over a ranked team since topping then-No. 7 Long Beach State on Oct. 25, 2002. Meanwhile the Wildcats had their winning streak snapped at three and now stand at 5-4 overall.

Despite an 11-kill effort by U of A sophomore outside hotter Kim Glass in the opening frame, game one went in favor of the Gauchos. UCSB limited Arizona,s offense to a meager .139 hitting percentage as the Wildcats committed 10 attack errors in the frame to UCSB's five.

Game two see-sawed back and forth up to a 22-22 tie before a final 8-to-4 spurt handed Arizona the tie at the break. The Wildcats posted a match-high .256 hitting percentage in the fame, while limiting the Gauchos to a .152 attack percentage.

Arizona's struggles on offense reemerged in the third game. Tied at 15-15, UCSB went on a 4-0 run on three Arizona attack errors and a service ace. Another pair of four-point runs by the Gauchos ended the frame and pushed the match to fourth and final game.

Arizona posted nine more attack errors in the final game, as UCSB jumped out to commanding 16-9 lead and never looked back. The Gauchos ganged up at the net and posted four blocks in the frame to take the 3-1 victory,

Senior Erica Menzel and freshman Janine Sandell led a balanced Gaucho attack, each slamming home 13 balls. Menzel added a match-best 17 digs while Sandell - returning to her home state of Arizona - enjoyed a breakout performance, exceeding her previous career high by 11. Junior setter Mari Bell dished off 39 assists to go along with her personal best 11 put-aways, hitting a sparkling .667 with only one error. Adding 10 kills was senior Francina Edmonds, while sophomore Megan Blackshire blocked seven total attempts, two of them solo. Santa Barbara amassed 12 team stuffs, the third straight contest in which it has out-blocked the opponent and amassed double-digits.

Glass, the reigning National Freshman of the Year, slammed home a match-best 23 kills for Arizona but was also frustrated on the offensive end, as evident by her 15 hitting errors. Bree Ladd was the only other Wildcat to reach double-figures with 11 put-aways.

The Gauchos can capture the Arizona Invitational title by defeating New Mexico State (5-3) on Saturday morning at 10:00 a.m. The Aggies swept American on Friday evening after falling to Arizona during the morning session.