MERCED, Calif. – The University of California, Merced women's volleyball team downed Cal Poly Humboldt in four sets on Friday night inside the Joseph Edward Gallo Gymnasium, 3-1 (25-21, 18-25, 25-23, 25-21).
With the victory, the Bobcats (3-10, 2-1) have won back-to-back matches for the first time this year.
Sera Riley highlighted the Bobcats with a season-high 17 kills and a season-high tying 17 digs. She also added three assists and two service aces to her third consecutive double-double.
Kylah Guzman tallied a career-high 13 kills on a .458 hitting percentage.
Semiramis Tanasescu finished with a season-high eleven kills while operating at a .398 success rate.
Kyra Miller posted her first CCAA double-double with 26 assists and a season-high tying 13 digs. She added five kills and three blocks, one solo. Miller has multiple blocks in three consecutive matches.
Ellie Gordon recorded 19 assists, while Natalie Riley added to the offense with five kills on a .400 hitting percentage.
Jazmine Banks gathered 13 digs, four assists, and a service ace.
Other notables include three kills and two blocks from Morgan Wilson and six digs and two kills from Taylor Crayne. Kaitlyn Anderson extended her service ace streak to six straight matches.
As a team, UC Merced tallied a season-high 60 kills on a season-high .313 hitting percentage.
The Bobcats scored their first point of the match via the kill and eleven of their first 12 points with a kill, resulting in a 12-9 lead in the first set. Tanasescu turned in three early kills. Shortly after, the Bobcats put together a 6-1 run to extend the lead to 18-11. Cal Poly Humboldt trimmed the Bobcats lead down to three points at 20-17, but S. Riley responded with back-to-back kills to get the advantage to five points. Crayne had two kills of her own to put the finishing touches on the set, including scoring set point, as the Bobcats won 25-21.
UC Merced took a 5-1 lead to start the second set but the Lumberjacks battled back and used a 9-1 run to claim a four-point lead of their own. S. Riley slowed down the run with a kill and a block to cut the deficit in half, but the Bobcats couldn't garner any momentum in the set and found themselves trailing 17-12 shortly after. The Bobcats trailed by as many as eight points, 22-14, in the 25-18 set two loss.
Head coach Ai Prachumsri's teams' strong start in the third set resulted in a set three win. A solid S. Riley service run put the Bobcats ahead 6-2 and UC Merced led the rest of the way. Later on, UC Merced was leading 17-15 when Miller put forth a dominant stretch to extend the Bobcats lead to six points at 22-16. Miller set up three kills before recording back-to-back kills of her own to cap the Bobcats 5-1 burst. However, Humboldt gave itself some life with a 6-1 run to make it a 23-22 game. It was 24-23 and then Guzman captured set point with a kill, putting the Bobcats up 2-1 in the match.
A 5-0 run sparked by back-to-back Guzman kills is how the Bobcats created their first separation in the fourth set, leading 8-5. Anderson's ace extended the Bobcats lead to four points at 12-8. Humboldt managed to pull even 14-14 but Miller gave the Bobcats the lead right back with another kill. UC Merced got to 20 points holding a 20-16 lead and the Bobcats were serving for match point later on at 24-18. A few rallies later, Tanasescu delivered an overpass kill to win the match for the Bobcats.
Up next, UC Merced will host Chico State on Saturday, September 27 at 5:00pm inside the Joseph Edward Gallo Gymnasium.
