ATHERTON, Calif. - The University of California, Merced women's volleyball team split their season-opening doubleheader, beating Lewis-Clark State College in five sets before falling to Menlo College 3-1 in the nightcap.

The Bobcats have now won two of their past four season openers. The Bobcats earned the win and snapped LC State's four-match winning streak by scores of 25-23, 9-25, 25-19, 22-25, 15-12. Saturday also marked the Bobcats first five-set match since April 1, 2021, a stretch of 31 consecutive matches.

Olanasaze Ojo highlighted the Bobcats victory with a career-high 15 kills on a .333 hitting percentage. Ojo's 15 kills is the second-highest kills mark for any Bobcat all-time in a season opener. Ojo, who is seventh all-time on the program's all-time blocks list, also had four blocks in the neutral site match against LC State. One of her four blocks was solo.

Serena Choi was good for a career-high seven kills, while Valentina Evans pitched in five kills and three other Bobcats recorded four. Alexa Ultreras was one of the three Bobcats with four kills, marking a career-high. 

Bianca Malaluan led the Bobcats with 20 assists and tied her career-high with ten digs for her second career double-double. Malaluan is also the first Bobcat since 2016 with an assist/dig double-double in the season opener.

Tea Bishop tallied a career-high 13 digs and two service aces. Destiny Lei Ramilo finished with ten digs. Jalen Carey earned the start at libero and contributed nine digs and a pair of service aces.

Freshman Semiramis Tanasecu tallied five blocks, the most by a Bobcat in a season-opener since 2016.

Other notables include eight digs, seven assists, and two blocks from Choi, six assists from freshman Ellie Gordon, three blocks from Evans, two blocks from Teola Nowak and an ace from Haley Branley.

Head coach Ai Prachumsri's team tallied nine blocks overall.

Each team held four-point leads in the opening set, but the Bobcats took the lead for good after breaking a 19-19 tie via an Evans kill. Soon after, Evans delivered another kill for a 23-20 lead and an Ojo kill set up by Gordon allowed the Bobcats to be victorious in the opening set.

The Bobcats never led in the second set, but bounced back nicely in the third set to take a 2-1 match lead. A 6-0 run with Bishop behind the service line set up the Bobcats for success in the frame. Ojo took over down the stretch with two kills and a block, including a kill for set point.

Set four was back and forth and the two teams were tied 21-21, however LC State won four of the final five rallies to force a decisive fifth set.

Prachumsri's squad had to play catch-up in the fifth set, falling behind 3-0 and 7-4. An Evans kill sparked a 5-0 run, that also featured two Nowak kills to put the Bobcats up 9-7. Then tied 10-10, Branley delivered a service ace and the Bobcats rode that momentum to victory. Ojo, who was responsible for two set points earlier in the match, fittingly smacked a kill for match point.

The Bobcats have now won four of their last five five-set affairs dating back to the 2019 season.

Match Two

The Bobcats fell to Menlo College in the second match of the day 3-1, (15-25, 25-19, 15-25, 18-25).

Choi and Ojo had five kills each, while Evans pitched in four and a solo block. Defensively, Annamarie Caldero neared a career-high with ten digs. Ultreras contributed a career-high seven digs. 

Freshman Alyssa Dudley was good for seven digs and two service aces in her collegiate debut. Sera Riley smacked two kills in her collegiate debut.

Malaluan neared another double-double with 13 assists and nine digs. The Hercules, Calif., native also tied her career-high with two service aces.

Other individual notables from the Menlo College match include six digs from Branley, five digs from Jaide Davis and Lei Ramilo, and two blocks from Choi.

After never leading in the opening set, the Bobcats never trailed in the second set due a stellar increase in their hitting percentage. The biggest difference between the two sets was the Bobcats hitting percentage. The Bobcats went from the negatives to .303 and playing a big role in that uptick was Ojo, who powered home three kills without an error. The Bobcats also had four of its six service aces in the second set, including the two from Dudley. UC Merced's best stretch came late, a 5-0 run that put the Bobcats in a good spot up 22-16. Bishop delivered a kill for set point, 25-19.

UC Merced scored the first point in the third set but failed to lead after that. The Bobcats were within three points at 17-14 before the set got away from them and they fell 25-15.

The fourth set was similar to the third, as the Bobcats and Choi kept it close through the early and middle portions of the frame. UC Merced and Menlo were tied 13-13 and the Bobcats were within a point at 17-16. However, then Menlo finished the match on an 8-2 run to hand the Bobcats their first loss of the season.

Tonight's match marked the 20th all-time meeting between UC Merced and Menlo College.

Looking ahead, the Bobcats will get another crack at Menlo as they take on the Oaks at the William Jessup Invitational in Rocklin, Calif., on Thursday, August 25.