MERCED, Calif. – The University of California, Merced women's volleyball team took Benedictine University Mesa to a fifth set but fell 3-2 (23-25, 25-9, 25-12, 21-25, 15-13) on Saturday night inside the Joseph Edward Gallo Gymnasium.
The Bobcats (11-18, 10-8) were tied 13-13 with BenU in the fifth set in an attempt to become just the second Cal Pac team beat the Redhawks this season. Only the undefeated University of Saint Katherine Firebirds have beaten BenU.
Destiny Lei Ramilo led the Bobcats efforts with 21 digs, her second highest digs output in Cal Pac play and her second straight night with 15+ digs.
Alexa Ultreras led the Bobcats offense with 13 kills, while Sera Riley had eight kills and Kylah Guzman smacked five kills. Semiramis Tanasescu had four kills on nine swings without an error.
Ultreras and Riley also had nine digs and three service aces, respectively.
Kyra Miller led three Bobcat setters with a career-high 19 assists. Ellie Gordon added eight and Bianca Malaluan had six assists, five digs, and three service aces.
Morgan Wilson had four blocks, one solo, and Haley Branley had two service aces.
Other notables include seven digs from Jazmine Banks and a solo block from Serena Choi.
UC Merced won the opening set and then the fourth set in Saturday's match. The Bobcats set win against BenU was their first since the 2021 season.
Head coach Ai Prachumsri's team won the first frame and led for all but three rallies. Back-to-back service aces from Riley got the Bobcats started and then a little later, the Yorba Linda, Calif., native smacked a kill to put the Bobcats up 11-5. The Bobcats led by five points at 14-9 before BenU answered with a 5-0 run to pull even. Then tied 15-15, Malaluan followed a BenU attack error with back-to-back-to-back service aces. BenU stormed back to take a 21-20 lead, but the Bobcats didn't let that phase them and responded with a 5-2 set-ending run to go up 1-0 in the match. Riley scored points 24 and 25 with a kill.
The second set was all Redhawks and the visitors exploded for eleven consecutive points to take a 16-3 lead. UC Merced only shaved one point off the deficit, eventually dropping the game 25-9. The Bobcats failed to score two in a row the entire frame. BenU hit a match-best .481 to control the set.
The Bobcats led 3-2 in the third set before falling into a hole they were never able to climb out of. UC Merced trailed by ten points at 15-5 and cut the deficit to eight points with a kill each from Riley and Jaide Davis but never got any closer. With UC Merced trailing 21-12 a little later, BenU reeled off a kill and then a service ace, followed by two UC Merced attack errors gave the opponent a 2-1 match lead.
Head coach Ai Prachumsri's team overcame a three-point deficit and a five-point deficit early in the fourth set before coming back to grab their first lead of the period at 14-13. Ultreras and Tanasescu played a big role in the Bobcats coming back and Ultreras kept at it with back-to-back kills to give her team a 16-13 advantage. The 16-13 lead came at the peak of a 10-2 UC Merced run. BenU fought back to go up 18-17, but Ultreras proved big once again with another kill. She also killed another ball to put the Bobcats up 20-18. Shortly after, the two teams were tied 21-21. The Bobcats freshmen took over in crunch time with Wilson and Guzman scoring two points each to extend the match to a fifth set behind a 25-21 set four win.
UC Merced and BenU traded one point leads leading up to the midway point of the fifth set with BenU leading 8-7 at the time when the teams switched sides. The switch was good for BenU as they followed with a service ace. A kill then put BenU up 10-7 before the Bobcats fought back, starting with a kill from Kennedi Baker. Tanasescu followed shortly after with a service ace to bring the Bobcats within a point at 11-10. Then down by three points again at 13-10, a pair of Ultreras kills and then a Wilson overkill tied the fifth set 13-13. However, BenU countered with two straight kills to put an end to the match and improve to 16-2 in conference play.
UC Merced's five-set match was their tenth of the season. The Bobcats have won three of the five-setters, two in Cal Pac play.
Looking ahead, UC Merced will travel to Redding, Calif., to take on Simpson University on Friday, November 3. First serve from the James M. Grant Center is scheduled for 6:00pm.
