LA GRANDE, Ore. – The University of California, Merced women's volleyball team fell in four sets to sixth-ranked Eastern Oregon University in the NAIA Women's Volleyball National Championship Opening Round on Saturday afternoon, 3-1 (18-25, 25-23, 25-14, 25-16).
The Bobcats (20-8) conclude their historic season with a program-record 20 wins and a California Pacific Conference regular season and tournament championship. Saturday marked the Bobcats first national tournament match since 2020.
Sera Riley led the Bobcats with 15 kills and eight digs.
Semiramis Tanasescu added nine kills hitting .350 with a pair of blocks. Alexa Ultreras and Kennedi Baker had eight kills each. Ultreras also had seven digs.
Holding down the defense was the duo of Morgan Wilson and Destiny Lei Ramilo who had five blocks and eleven digs, respectively. Four of Wilson's five blocks were solo. Lei Ramilo added three service aces.
Kyra Miller had 24 assists, two kills, and two service aces, while Ellie Gordon had 16 assists and five digs.
Other notables include nine digs from Serena Choi, seven digs from Haley Branley, and two service aces from Jazmine Banks.
UC Merced overcame an early 9-6 deficit in the first set using a 6-0 run with Ultreras behind the service line. The Bobcats then led 14-10 before four consecutive Eastern Oregon kills tied the game. Riley stopped the Mountaineers spurt with a kill of her own and then Miller followed with an ace. The Bobcats continued to find success and ended the first set with an 11-4 run overall to win the frame 25-18. Big plays in the run include a Wilson solo block, a Miller kill for the 24th point, and then Ultreras secured set point with another kill.
Head coach Ai Prachumsri's team opened set two on a 5-0 run highlighted by a pair of Lei Ramilo aces. The Bobcats lead was trimmed to a point at 8-7, but they got it to 11-8 shortly after and remained in front until the Mountaineers pulled even 15-15. Ultreras broke the tie with a kill but EOU would respond with back-to-back points for their first lead of the frame. Two more lead changes followed and then a 4-0 EOU run capped by an ace put the home team ahead 21-18. The Bobcats also trailed 23-19 and 24-22. A Wilson and Miller block staved off one set point, but a UC Merced attack error followed, and the match was tied 1-1.
UC Merced had to play from behind for the entire third set as they fell behind 6-3 early on and 11-6 shortly after that. A 3-0 run with help of Ultreras cut the deficit to two points but the Bobcats couldn't get any closer. A 4-0 run had EOU on top 17-11 and then they used a set-ending 5-0 run to win the frame 25-14 and take a 2-1 match lead. EOU smacked three kills over the final 5-0 run.
Four different Bobcats had an early kill to start the fourth set resulting in a 6-4 lead. The Bobcats also led 7-5, however they couldn't extend the advantage and lost the lead at 9-8 and never got it back. The Bobcats kept pace with EOU for a stretch behind Riley kills and were within two points at 16-14. From there, EOU took over for good starting with five straight points which turned into an 8-2 match-ending run. Six of the Mountaineers final eight points came via the kill and they hit a match-high .485 in what would be the final frame. The Bobcats operated at a high-rate as well in the fourth set hitting .407.
For the entire match, EOU recorded a .268 hitting percentage compared to the Bobcats .172.
Despite the loss, the Bobcats tallied more digs, blocks, and aces than the Mountaineers.
Eastern Oregon advances to the NAIA Women's Volleyball National Championship Final Site, running December 3-10 in Sioux City.
Season/Career Notes
- Riley finished the season second in program history with 3.65 kills per set and fourth with 332 total kills
- Lei Ramilo finished the year with 46 service aces, the second most in program history for a season. Overall, she ends her career first in program history with 451 career sets played, first with 145 service aces, and second with 1,282 digs.
- Banks totaled 40 aces in her sophomore campaign, tied for third most by any Bobcat in program history
- Miller finished with the fourth most assists for UC Merced in a single-season, 704
- Wilson ends the year with 78 blocks, good for sixth on the single-season record chart. Wilson also passed Valentina Evans for fifth all-time with 36 career solo blocks and eighth with 140 total blocks
- Ultreras finishes her career third with 679 kills, tied for fifth with 75 aces, and seventh with 757 digs
- Choi concludes her career second with 414 sets played, third with 96 aces, and eighth with 622 digs
Stay up to date with UC Merced women's volleyball in the offseason by following the team on social media @ucmercedwvb.
