MERCED, Calif. – Destiny Lei Ramilo broke the program's single-season digs record and the University of California, Merced women's volleyball team clinched a berth in the California Pacific Conference Championships with a 3-1 (21-25, 25-11, 25-23, 25-20) win over Park University Gilbert on Friday night inside the Joseph Edward Gallo Gymnasium.
The Bobcats (11-17, 10-7) win over Park University Gilbert was the first in eight all-time meetings between the two foes.
Lei Ramilo led the way defensively for the Bobcats with 16 digs, upping her season total to a program-record 456 digs which broke the previous standard set by Cassandra Diaz in 2018. That number also leads the Cal Pac this season. The Bobcats senior added seven assists in the victory.
Ellie Gordon dished out a career-high 24 assists to go along with nine digs and a service ace.
Bianca Malaluan registered her fifth double-double in Cal Pac play, tallying 22 assists and eleven digs. She also had two service aces.
UC Merced's setters, Gordon and Malaluan, ran the offense to a .252 success rate.
Sera Riley led the Bobcats in kills with 14 while also stuffing the stat sheet with nine digs, two service aces, and a solo block. It marked her second time in the last three outings going for at least 14 kills and two service aces.
Serena Choi smacked eleven kills and for the fourth time this month operated at a .400 success rate or better with at least 15 attempts. Choi, who hit .409, also had two blocks.
Alexa Ultreras was good for nine kills, eleven digs, and two service aces.
Semiramis Tanasescu had nine kills on a .300 hitting percentage, while Kennedi Baker finished with eight kills at a .318 success rate.
Other notables include five kills for Morgan Wilson and a Cal Pac season-high three service aces from Haley Branley. Branley also holds the program's single-season record now with 110 sets played.
UC Merced led 9-4 in the opening frame before falling, in part due to Park Gilbert hitting .438. The Bobcats still led midway through the frame at 16-13 and shortly after at 19-17, but the Bucs surged ahead and went on an 8-2 set-ending run to take the 1-0 match lead. The Bucs final five points were all scored either via the kill or a block.
Similar to the first set, the Bobcats had a good start to the second frame and led 11-3 highlighted by a pair of Riley aces and Ultreras kills. This time, the Bobcats garnered momentum from the advantage and went on to roll Park, extending their advantage to as many as nine points as early as the 15-6 mark. Leading 16-9 shortly after, a Park service error followed by Riley's solo block started a 6-0 UC Merced run to increase the gap to 22-9. Baker killed a ball a couple rallies later and the Bobcats went on to win the frame 25-11.
UC Merced trailed 10-6 in the third period before pulling even at 11-11 directly after a Riley kill. The two teams then traded two-point leads with the Bobcats going up 15-13 and Park flipping the score to go up 17-15. The Bobcats then got the lead back at 19-18 and never surrendered the advantage. UC Merced and Park alternated points for the next ten rallies, culminating in the 25-23 Bobcats win. Riley scored set point with a kill.
After two Park points to start the fourth set, the Bobcats scored four straight and led the rest of the way. A Malaluan ace put the Bobcats up 10-7 and the lead grew to five points at 14-9 following a Branley ace. When Park closed the margin to a single point, Choi started a 5-0 UC Merced run with a kill to get the Bobcats closer to the finish line. She had three kills in the run, her last putting her team up 21-15. Choi also scored the Bobcats 24th point with a kill, while Tanasescu put an end to the night with a kill of her own. The Bobcats won the final set 25-20 in the four-set victory.
UC Merced finished with 56 kills on the night, their most in a four-set affair since September 8. The Bobcats ten total service aces was the first time reaching double figure service aces since September 21.
