RIVERSIDE, Calif. – The University of California, Merced women's volleyball team beat Simpson in four sets to win the California Pacific Conference Tournament Championship on Saturday night, 3-1 (25-20, 32-34, 25-22, 25-19). It is the Bobcats first tournament title since 2020 and with the trophy, UC Merced earns the Cal Pac's automatic bid to the NAIA Women's Volleyball National Championship.
The Bobcats (20-7) championship win also gives UC Merced it's first 20-win season in program history and extends the squad's program-best winning streak to eleven matches. UC Merced is the first women's volleyball team to sweep the Cal Pac regular season and tournament championships since 2019.
UC Merced tallied a four-set program-record 62 kills in the victory and also recorded four-set season-high's of 84 digs and 12 blocks. Head coach Ai Prachumsri's team also had 54 assists and ten service aces, beating the Red Hawks in every statistical category. UC Merced finished with a .216 hitting percentage, holding Simpson to a .178 mark.
Cal Pac Player of the Year Sera Riley and Cal Pac Attacker of the Year Alexa Ultreras registered championship double-double's.
Riley had 15 kills and 17 digs, while Ultreras went for 13 kills and 20 digs. The six-rotation outside hitters also combined for three service aces. Saturday marked their 12th and 13th double-double's of the season, respectively.
Kennedi Baker registered a career-high 15 kills and supported her offensive efforts with four blocks and four digs.
Ellie Gordon finished with a career-high 31 assists to go along with nine digs, while Kyra Miller had 17 assists, four blocks, and three kills.
Middle blockers Semiramis Tanasescu and Morgan Wilson had a stellar night as well.
Tanasescu put away nine kills hitting .350 with five blocks, one solo. Wilson was good for seven kills and seven blocks, two solo.
Other notables include a season-high eleven digs and two service aces from Serena Choi, ten digs and two aces from Destiny Lei Ramilo, and three aces from Jazmine Banks.
The Bobcats scored points from the get-go starting with a Lei Ramilo service ace and then a Wilson and Miller block. Riley followed with three kills shortly after before the Red Hawks countered and took their first lead of the opening set at 10-9. The two teams traded sideouts until Ultreras sparked a UC Merced 7-1 run with a couple kills, giving the Bobcats a 22-15 advantage. Simpson followed with a 3-0 run but Tanasescu stopped any possible Red Hawks momentum with a kill out of the middle. Miller then notched a dump kill to set up set point which was secured on a Simpson service error as the Bobcats won the first set 25-20. Wilson had four blocks in the frame.
The opening rally in the second set was a glimpse of what was set to come throughout the period. The longest rally of the night up until that point went the Red Hawks way and the set ultimately turned into a 34-32 marathon set. After winning the first point, the second-seeded Simpson squad ran with the energy and built leads along the way of 10-3 and 18-8. A Tanasescu and Ultreras block then put Ultreras behind the service line, and she immediately followed with an ace. A few big kills a little later followed from Wilson and Riley, but the Bobcats still had a lot of work to do and had to stave off set point trailing 24-17. Back-to-back kills from the Bobcats middles kept the Bobcats alive, and then a Banks ace made it 24-20. Kills kept coming for UC Merced and then Tanasescu and Baker brought the Bobcats all the way back to even at 24-24 with back-to-back blocks. After that, Simpson had many more chances at set point as they continued to break ties and they eventually got it done at 34-32. UC Merced had set point chances at 28-27 and 29-28 but the teams kept trading huge kills. Simpson ended up scoring set point winning a joust.
Set three started slow for both sides as they traded errors. The Bobcats got rolling with a Wilson kill to put her team up 5-3 which was the beginning of a 5-0 run with Banks behind the service line. Back-to-back Baker kills capped the run with UC Merced in front 9-3 forcing Simpson into a timeout. Out of the quick break, the Red Hawks won two of the next three rallies but the Bobcats fought the opponent off and managed to extend their lead to 14-6 with the help of Ultreras. The eight-point lead was the biggest at the time for UC Merced. After another 4-0 Simpson spurt, Riley gave the Bobcats the final jolt they needed with her seventh kill of the night. Then, Riley and her fellow outside hitter Ulteras delivered laser-like kills from the back row to put the Bobcats up 20-12. Simpson continued to show resilience cutting the Bobcats lead down to 23-21. Wilson returned the favor with a punishing kill and then after another sideout, Riley pushed one off the block for the 25-22 win and a 2-1 UC Merced match lead.
Prachumsri's squad began the fourth set with a 4-0 run sparked by a Tanasescu kill. The two teams traded points for a stretch culminating in a 12-9 UC Merced lead, and then Miller executed a dump kill and Riley terminated a ball to make it 14-9 and force the Red Hawks into a timeout. UC Merced kept rolling from there. A Baker kill made it 18-12 followed by a Choi ace to go up 19-12. Simpson's final push to extend the match got them as close as 23-19, but then out of a Prachumsri timeout Riley and Baker dialed up back-to-back kills including Baker's kill for championship point.
Both of UC Merced's tournament championships have come in four sets, 3-1 over University of Saint Katherine in 2020 and 3-1 over the Red Hawks in 2024.
Simpson's championship match was their first in program history. This was UC Merced's fifth title match, first since the 2020 championship.
Lei Ramilo and Choi were a part of both titles for the Bobcats, as were head coach Prachumsri and assistant coach Caroline Mack.
The Bobcats now enter the NAIA Women's Volleyball Championship and will find out their opening round opponent and location on Monday, November 18 through the selection show beginning at 10:00am here.
