UCI women’s volleyball picked third in Big West

The UC Irvine women’s volleyball team has been picked to finish third by Big West Conference coaches.

The Anteaters received 60 points in voting conducted Tuesday. Cal Poly San Luis Obispo received all nine first-place votes (81 points) and Long Beach State received 68 points.

Coach Charlie Brande’s squad returns two All-Big West performers, including outside hitter, Kari Pestolesi, who was the 2007 American Volleyball Coaches Assn. West Region Freshman of the Year. Pestolesi topped the team with 491 kills, averaging 4.20 kills per game. She was also first in service aces with 40 and second in digs with 349.

Pestolesi was named Big West Conference Freshman of the Year and first-team All-Big West Conference.

She finished 17th with partner Olivia Waldowski at the 2008 World University Beach Volleyball Championships in Hamburg, Germany as a member of Team USA and she partnered with Devon Sutherland to win the Big West Beach Tournament during this summer.

Senior outside hitter Lauren Kellerman, a first-team conference selection, also returns. She posted 446 kills and a 3.88 per-game average in her junior campaign. Kellerman was second with 34 service aces and had 66 blocks.

Setter Taryn Robertson and Sutherland, a libero, are also back after receiving honorable mention in all-conference voting.

Robertson, a junior this season, ranks third at UCI in career assists. She had 1,431 assists and averaged 12.34 per game last season.

Sutherland, a senior, became UCI’s all-time career digs leader last season, accumulating 1,302. She had 553 digs in 2007.

UCI also returns 6-foot-3 junior middle blocker Chelsea Ellis, who ended the season as the conference’s best hitter with a .371 hitting percentage. Ellis had 191 kills and her 107 blocks rank first among returners.

The Anteaters were 21-11 last season, posting their fourth winning season. UCI was third in the conference at 15-6, its best Big West finish since 2003.

UCI plays 13 of its first 14 matches on the road and opens the season at the San Diego State Tournament, Aug. 29-30. The Anteaters take on the host Aztecs Aug. 29 and will also face San Diego and Albany in tournament action.

— From staff reports