SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. - The 3rd-ranked UC San Diego women's volleyball team swept San Francisco State 25-14, 25-19, 25-23 to advance to the NCAA West Regional semifinals. UCSD hit at a .330 clip and held the Gators to a .117 percentage. Newly crowned conference Player of the Year Sylvia Schmidt led the way with 19 kills on .351 hitting. Hillary Williamson added 10 kills on one attack error and added seven digs. "We had a good start with serving it in and hitting it in," said head coach Tom Black. With the win, UCSD improves to 29-2 while San Francisco State's season comes to an end at 20-11. The Tritons will face No. 19 Cal State L.A. in the NCAA West Regional semifinals on Friday night, with first serve set for 5:00 p.m.

UCSD's last loss came against San Francisco State on the SFSU campus. "We saw some mistakes from that loss and the girls responded well with the adjustments," said Black.

The sweep was UCSD's first postseason sweep since 2004 when the Tritons swept Cal State Bakersfield in the first-round.

Katie Condon added eight kills on .375 hitting while Julia Freidenberg chipped in with five kills and three blocks.

Roxanne Brunsting finished with a match-high 13 digs and two of UCSD's nine aces. Elaine Chen finished with 37 assists and three aces.
It was the fourth time this season that Schmidt finished with 19 kills. Schmidt now has 466 kills this season.

In the first set, the Tritons took a 14-11 lead after a Schmidt kill and Schmidt and Freidenberg block. With UCSD leading 14-12, Chen served up two aces and her service run put UCSD up 18-12. After Schmidt's seventh kill and a Williamson kill, UCSD was comfortably ahead 20-12. Brunsting finished off the set with two aces as the Tritons won 25-14. The Tritons outhit SFSU .314 to .038 in the set.

In the second set, the Tritons continued to go to Schmidt as the senior sent down her fifth kill of the set and 12th of the match for UCSD's 14-9 lead. After an SFSU timeout, the Tritons went on another small run to lead by seven points at 19-12. After the Tritons took an eight point lead at 23-15 after a Cara Simonsen kill, SFSU scored four unanswered to pull within 23-19. Schmidt put an end to the run with her sixth kill of the set and an SFSU attack error ended the set at 25-19 UCSD.

In the third set, three consecutive Freidenberg kills helped UCSD to a 10-3 lead. The Gators chipped away and came within 15-13 forcing the Tritons to call timeout. SFSU tied the set at 16-16 before Schmidt put the Tritons back on top with back-to-back kills at 18-16. Schmidt would add another kill and her second ace to push the Triton lead to 20-17. After SFSU pulled within 21-20, Condon sent down her third kill of the set to put UCSD up 22-20. Williamson gave the Tritons a shot at set point with a kill, at 24-21. SFSU would pull within 24-23 but Schmidt sent down the final kill, her 19th for the 25-23 sweep.

UCSD is back in action on Friday night when it takes on Cal State L.A. at 5:00 p.m. in San Bernardino. UCSD defeated CSULA twice this season, while the Golden Eagles eliminated the Tritons from the postseason in 2008.