Women’s Volleyball: Anteaters just miss

Steve Virgen

CRAWFORD HALL - After 150 minutes and five games of seemingly

endless rallies, the UC Irvine women’s volleyball team is left searching

for its first Big West Conference victory. And, as UCI Coach Charlie

Brande said, the Anteaters are left searching for an understanding of the

game, as visiting Cal State Fullerton grabbed its first conference win

with a 30-26, 21-30, 30-18, 26-30, 15-10 victory Friday night at Crawford

Hall.

“If we learn to control ourselves and our game, we’re going to be a

very good team,” Brande said. “We just made too many mistakes and we are

not understanding the game enough yet.”

The Anteaters (1-8, 0-3 in the Big West) displayed inconsistency that

began when they dropped the opening game, the one Brande said they should

have won.

With the scored tied at 25, it was the Titans who broke away to grab

the momentum. Renee Vignery served for Cal State Fullerton’s last four

points, including one point received when UCI was out of rotation,

capping a Titan 10-3 run to end the game.

And as if that wasn’t enough, the Titans maintained the momentum into

Game 2, as they built a 10-1 lead. But, the Anteaters responded and

steadily climbed back, grabbing the lead at 14-13 after Fullerton was

called for a net violation. UCI junior Chanda McLeod, who led the

Anteaters with 19 kills, led the comeback and coming off the bench,

Rebecca Larsen (10 kills) also contributed in the rally.

UCI freshman setter Ashlie Hain, who amassed a match-high 60 assists,

fed a nice pass to Larsen for a kill to give the Anteaters a 28-21 lead,

in the rally-scoring format game. With Jamie Pilbeam serving, UCI

finished off the Game 2 victory, receiving points from a lift and a net

violation.

“Rebecca Larsen and Nicole Nelsen (six kilss) did a great job,” Brande

said. “They really stepped it up when they came off the bench.”

The Titans came alive in Game 3, with a 30-18 victory as they

continually earned points by dropping tip hits onto UCI’s side of the

net. The Anteaters also committed errors, which proved to be their

demise. They committed nine errors. Also, the Titans scored five points

off of service aces.

UCI, continuing with its inconsistency, jumped back to its steady play

in Game 4, resulting in a 30-26 win. Again, with the game tied at 25,

this time the Anteaters pulled away.

Hain connected with McLeod for an assist-kill combination, giving UCI

a 26-25 lead. Larsen served an ace and Hain and McLeod hooked up again

for a 28-25 lead. Fullerton answered as Be Holcombe (12 kills) slammed a

kill off a pass that came from Krista Bebernes (48 assists). The Titans

were led by Megan Sabo’s match-high 20 kills.

UCI’s Erika Denison retaliated with one of her 14 kills to grab back

service and Fullerton was called for a violation to end the game, sending

the match into Game 5, which was played to 15.

UCI opened with a 3-0 lead and never looked back, as UCI committed six

errors in the final game, including three service errors.

“Ashlie Hain made some key mistakes,” Brande said of the freshman.

“But she will be one of the greatest setters at UCI.”