RIVERSIDE, Calif. – The University of California, Merced women's volleyball team tied their three-set season-high with 46 kills and earned their second road sweep in as many nights with a 3-0 (25-20, 25-13, 27-25) win over La Sierra on Saturday night.
The Bobcats (10-16, 9-6) top three attackers all hit at least .400 on the way to the sweep and UC Merced maintained a .262 hitting percentage overall.
Riley led the Bobcats with 15 kills on a .412 success rate and recorded a double-double for the second straight outing with 10 digs. Riley also had two service aces.
Morgan Wilson and Serena Choi finished with seven kills and four blocks each. One of Choi's blocks was solo. The duo hit .417 and .412, respectively. Choi's defensive efforts allowed her to pass Jade Garrett for ninth in program history with 121 career blocks. Her four blocks also tied her season-high.
Bianca Malaluan and Ellie Gordon quarterbacked the Bobcats offense with 22 assists and 18 assists, respectively.
Destiny Lei Ramilo led the Bobcats back row with 15 digs and two service aces. Alexa Ultreras had eleven digs and Haley Branley was good for nine.
Other notables include six kills each from Semiramis Tanasescu and Kennedi Baker, and five kills from Ultreras. Ultreras became the fifth player in program history to reach 250 kills in a single season.
UC Merced erased a 7-1 deficit in the first set as their offense started to click. Trailing 10-7, Riley put together back-to-back kills and then Choi killed a ball to pull even 10-10. After a La Sierra point, the Bobcats went on a 6-0 run and never surrendered the lead the rest of the frame. Choi had three blocks in the surge. The Bobcats reached 20 points on top 20-16 and then after La Sierra pulled within a point, Riley extended the lead again with another kill. Gordon finished off the period with a service ace.
UC Merced hit .438 in the second set to take further control of the match. Tied 7-7, a Choi kill gave the Bobcats the lead and sparked a 6-0 run to put her team ahead 13-7. She had two kills in the run, while Lei Ramilo had her two service aces. The Bobcats extended their lead to as many as nine points at 17-8 and then shortly after back-to-back kills from Baker and Riley made it double figures at 22-12. Following a sideout, the Bobcats strung together three straight kills to take the set 25-13. Wilson had the final two kills and captured set point.
The Bobcats came back from deficits in the third set, trailing both 12-8 and 15-10. Then, Choi had a role in three straight Bobcat points and then after a Wilson kill to pull within a point, Choi and Wilson teamed up for a block to put the Bobcats ahead 16-15. The teams traded sideouts for nine rallies after that before three straight UC Merced kills, two from Riley, made it 23-20 in favor of the Bobcats. La Sierra countered with four straight points to give themselves an opportunity to extend the match and had two chances a set point, but the Bobcats kept fighting and staved them off. A Riley kill made it 25-25, followed by a Choi kill and a La Sierra setting error to put an end to the night.
With the sweep, the Bobcats earned back-to-back road sweeps for the first time since October of 2016.
The Bobcats also sweep the season series against the Golden Eagles for the first time since 2016.
Up next, UC Merced will host Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University to start a three-match homestand on Thursday, October 26 at 6:30pm inside the Joseph Edward Gallo Gymnasium.
