Sept. 17, 2003
MALIBU, Calif. - In 29 years of existence, there have been many memorable performances by the UC Santa Barbara women's volleyball team. Wednesday night's 30-24, 30-21, 30-24 sweep at the hands of seventh-ranked Pepperdine in Firestone Fieldhouse was not one of them.
The Gauchos, ranked 13th and playing their eighth consecutive road contest to open the 2003 campaign, fell to 4-4 following their second straight defeat. Meanwhile Pepperdine has now won seven consecutive matches to improve its record to 9-2 overall.
Game one was not a thing of beauty for either squad, with the Waves out-hitting UCSB .167 to -.077. The home team never trailed however, Santa Barbara caught Pepperdine at 16-16 and again at 21-21, when freshman outside hitter Janine Sandell notched a big block solo. The Waves responded with three consecutive points before the Gauchos again rallied within 25-24. However that would be as close as the visitors would get, as the three-time defending West Coast Conference champs closed with a 5-0 run, the last two points coming courtesy of UCSB hitting errors.
The second frame again saw Pepperdine build a lead it would never relinquish as the team picked up its offensive game by hitting .295. Trailing 24-14, Gaucho head coach Kathy Gregory had seen enough and called her second of two timeouts. Her troops responded with three straight points - including a nice kill of the second ball by junior setter Mari Bell - but could not pull within seven points the rest of the way.
UCSB had its best opportunity for victory in game three, building a 15-10 lead following two consecutive Wave hitting errors that made their head coach Nina Matthies quickly ask for a stoppage in play. Coming out of the timeout, the home team won 11 of the next 13 points to build a 21-17 cushion. However the visitors kept things close - pulling within 22-20 following another Pepperdine hitting error - but that mistake was quickly forgotten with a 5-0 run ignited by a big kill from reigning WCC Player of the Year Katie Wilkins. Santa Barbara could muster just two points the rest of the way, and the match ended on a put-away from sophomore outside hitter Katy Daly.
|
|
 |
Individually, senior outside hitter Erica Menzel was the only Gaucho in double figures with 12 kills, and added 10 digs for her fourth double-double of the season. Freshman Emily Hendrickson added 11 scoops while junior Kristin Nelson added 10, keeping alive her streak of double-digit digs in every match this year.
However, as a team UCSB was collectively out-dug 62-43. The Waves also had four players slam home 10 or more kills, led by Wilkins' 14. Daly had an efficient evening, hitting .296 with 13 put-aways and an equal number of scoops. The Pepperdine hitter benefited from the stellar setting of sophomore Melissa Mehlhorn, who dished off an incredible 52 assists.
The Gauchos begin defense of their 2002 Big West Conference title on Saturday, Sept. 20 at Central Coast rival Cal Poly. First serve in Mott Gym is slated for 2:00 p.m. The Mustangs will be UCSB's seventh opponent in 2003 that advanced to last season's NCAA Tournament.
