MERCED, Calif. – The University of California, Merced women's volleyball team recorded a season-best .405 hitting percentage to sweep Pacific Union College in the regular season finale on Saturday night inside the Joseph Edward Gallo Gymnasium.
The Bobcats (13-8, 12-8) 12th California Pacific Conference victory tied the program's single-season record. Seven of the Bobcats 12 Cal Pac wins came via the sweep.
Saturday night also marked Senior Night and senior Bianca Malaluan turned in a career-best outing with 35 assists, 12 digs, two kills, and a service ace while running the offense to the season-best success rate.
Malaluan's double-double was her seventh of the year. Her 35 assists were three more than her previous career-high set back in a five-set affair at PUC. Also of note, her 12 digs moved her ahead of Edwena Wong for eighth all-time in program history with 529 career digs.
Senior Serena Choi tallied nine kills, six digs, two blocks, and two assists.
Destiny Lei Ramilo recorded eight digs, three assists, and a kill in her final outing on Hostetler Court. Her kill wearing the libero jersey scored game point in the opening set.
Sera Riley was also a big part of the Bobcats Saturday night success, delivering eleven kills on a stellar .600 hitting percentage (11/2/15) to go along with a career-high six service aces. Riley finished the 20-game Cal Pac slate with eleven double figure kill performances.
Alexa Ultreras tallied nine kills on a career-best .438 hitting percentage and had 12 digs. The Merced, Calif., native is now just two kills away from becoming the first player in program history with 300 kills and 300 digs in a single-season.
Middle blockers Morgan Wilson and Semiramis Tanasescu pitched in six kills each. Wilson turned in her six kills on 12 attempts without an error for a .500 hitting percentage. She also had two blocks.
Head coach Ai Prachumsri's team started Saturday night on fire, smacking 21 kills in the opening set on their way to a 25-18 victory. Choi started the night with a kill and then recorded one more after back-to-back Ultreras kills. A little later, two straight Riley kills had the Bobcats on top of the Pioneers 12-6. The Bobcats led by five points at 20-15 and the lead was cut to three at 21-18. The Bobcats caught fire again, delivering four straight kills including the Lei Ramilo kill for set point.
The Bobcats scored five points in a row to start the second frame and opened the set on a 13-4 run overall. Ultreras had three kills during the surge with Choi and Riley recording two each. UC Merced led 16-11 midway through the set and then exploded for a 7-0 run to break the game open again with Riley behind the service line. Riley had three of her six aces in the run that put her team up 23-11. Shortly after, Kylah Guzman joined in on the fun and killed a ball to officially put the Bobcats up 2-0 in the match.
In the third set, the Bobcats broke a 5-5 tie and led the rest of the way. A Malaluan ace followed by a PUC attack error had the Bobcats in front 14-8 and Prachumsri's squad extended the advantage to eight points at 20-12 following back-to-back kills from Ultreras and Choi. Four more UC Merced kills and one PUC attack error got the Bobcats to match point. Middles Tanasescu and Wilson were responsible for the Bobcats final two points to complete the sweep.
UC Merced improved to 24-4 all-time against PUC with seven straight sweeps on Hostetler Court.
Up next, the fourth-seeded Bobcats will play fifth-seeded Park University Gilbert in the California Pacific Conference Championship Opening Round on Thursday, November 9 at 5:00pm. The tournament is hosted by University of Saint Katherine at USK Sports Complex in San Marcos, Calif.
