NORTHRIDGE, Calif. - History was made in the San Fernando Valley Saturday night as the UC San Diego women's volleyball team won its first Big West Conference match, defeating CSUN in four sets on the road at the Matadome.
Scores were 25-22, 25-14, 20-25, and 25-20 in favor of the Tritons, who improve their season records to 4-9 overall and 1-1 in the Big West.
The Matadors, who lost their 10th-consecutive match, drop to 1-11 on the year and 0-2 in conference action. Â
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HOW IT HAPPENED
UC San Diego finished with a .262 hitting percentage, its second-best of the season. The Tritons totaled 55 kills with just 17 errors in 145 total attack attempts. In addition, they set a new season-high with nine service aces.
For the second-straight contest, freshman
Sabire Karacaova led UC San Diego in kills, tonight with a season-best 15. The outside hitter posted a .325 hitting percentage and also contributed 15 digs and two aces.
Emily McDaniel was second on the kills list with 13. The middle hit an impressive .458 with 13 kills and two errors in 24 swings.
Outside
Trinity Castaneda and middle
Ava McInnes each had 11 kills. McInnes added nine digs and three aces, while Castaneda hit .308 and had three block assists.
The Triton offense was orchestrated by setter
Isabela Dobra, who had 38 assists to go with nine digs, three aces, and a block assist.
Naya Dong had 19 digs to lead UC San Diego on the defensive end.
CSUN hit .218 (50-19-142) overall. Taylor Orshoff had 14 kills and Nicole Navarez had 12. Makayla Bradford came away with a match-high 21 digs.
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QUOTABLE FROM HEAD COACH RICCI LUYTIES
I'm really happy for the players and our program to get that first win in the Big West.
The comeback in the first set was amazing! CSUN went on a huge run in the middle of the set and it looked like the game would be theirs, but we kept battling and making plays. It was great to see them not get frazzled in a tough situation.
They were tested the rest of the match and even struggled badly in set three, but they stayed positive and together.Â
I love the character they showed this weekend.Â
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TRITON TIDBITS
• The Tritons are in their first competition season at the NCAA Division I level and as a member of the Big West. The 2020 season would have been the team's first, but it was canceled due to the pandemic.
• UC San Diego and CSUN had never played one another prior to tonight.
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Sabire Karacaova recorded a team-high 13 kills in a loss at UC Santa Barbara Friday night.
• Karacaova has at least 10 kills in five of eight matches played, which includes four of her last five outings.
• The Tritons' previous season-high for aces was 8 at New Mexico on Sept. 11.
• The Tritons hit .286 (63-19-154) against Tarleton State on Sept. 4, the team's only attack percentage higher than tonight's this season.
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Ava McInnes has totaled at least 10 kills in five of her last six matches.
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Juliette Bokor has multiple blocks in nine of 13Â matches, including a season-high six on three occasions.
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UP NEXT
After playing its first 13 matches of the season on the road, UC San Diego finally gets to return to La Jolla and host. The Tritons welcome UC Riverside to RIMAC Arena on Friday, Oct. 1 and UC Davis on Saturday, Oct. 2. Both matches are slated for a 7 p.m. first serve. All home matches this season will be broadcast live by ESPN+ and fans will also be able to follow along with live stats. For coverage links and UC San Diego's complete 2021 schedule,
click here.
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About UC San Diego Athletics
After two decades as one of the most successful programs in NCAA Division II, the UC San Diego intercollegiate athletics program began a new era in 2020 as a member of the Big West Conference in NCAA Division I. The 23-sport Tritons earned 30 team and nearly 150 individual national championships during its time in Divisions II and III and helped guide 1,400 scholar-athletes to All-America honors. A total of 84 Tritons have earned Academic All-America honors, while 38 have earned prestigious NCAA Post Graduate Scholarships. UC San Diego scholar-athletes exemplify the academic ideals of one of the world's preeminent institutions, graduating at an average rate of 91 percent, one of the highest rates among institutions at all divisions.
