Volleyball Goes Down to UCSB in Five
9/8/2012 7:25:12 PM | Volleyball
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Leah Sully logged 25 kills for UC Santa Barbara, and the Gauchos hit .421 in the decisive fifth set to hang on to defeat Georgia Southern 3-2 (25-16, 25-12, 22-25, 22-25, 15-10) in non-conference volleyball action at the Lobo Invitational Saturday afternoon.
It was the second five-set loss in a row for the Eagles (5-4), who fell 3-2 to the host Lobos last night. Nicole Jeschelnik led the way for GSU with 15 kills and 12 digs, while Meredith Paskert had 13 kills. Moriah Bellissimo and Enjoli Johnson each recorded nine kills, and Kate Van Dyke finished with 48 assists and 16 digs.
Sully took 71 swings and hit .261 for UCSB (6-4), adding 18 digs, and Alex Barbeau finished with 15 kills and nine digs. Ali Santi posted 54 assists and 18 digs, and Taylor Formico finished with 32 digs.
Georgia Southern fell behind early after dropping the first two sets by large margins. The Eagles battled back, winning the third and fourth frames by identical 25-22 scores to force a fifth set.
The Eagles trailed 7-6 midway through the fifth set following a Jeschelnik kill, but UCSB responded with a 5-1 run to open a 12-7 advantage. Paskert provided consecutive kills to trim the lead to 12-9, but Sully answered with a kill for UCSB. Formico got an ace for the Gauchos, and Britton Taylor ended the match with a kill, one of her nine in the match.
With the score tied 17-17 in the third set, Bellissimo sparked a 5-0 GSU run with a kill and a combined block with Kayla Henderson. The Gauchos trimmed the margin to 23-22, but Johnson and Henderson combined for a big block and UCSB had a hitting error to end the set.
The fourth set was also nip and tuck throughout, and with GSU trailing 21-20, Jeschelnik got consecutive kills, and Bellissimo added another as the Eagles took a 23-21 lead. After UCSB cut the margin to 23-22, Jeschelnik came up with another big kill, and the Gauchos committed a setting error to even the match 2-2.
The Eagles finish play in the Lobo Invitational tonight at 7 p.m. (Eastern) against Portland.
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