ARCATA, Calif. – The University of California, Merced women's volleyball team forced a fifth set but fell 3-2 (23-25, 30-28, 25-23, 20-25, 15-10) to Cal Poly Humboldt on Thursday night inside Lumberjack Arena.
Despite the loss, the Bobcats (4-13, 1-7) recorded their most blocks since September 20, 2025 and held Cal Poly Humboldt to the lowest hitting percentage of any CCAA opponent this year. The Bobcats registered eleven blocks.
Ayana Ruffin led the Bobcats defense and had a career day all-around with eight blocks and eight kills. Ruffin is the first Bobcat with at least eight blocks in a match since Morgan Wilson on October 5, 2024 at La Sierra.
Callie Neufeld paced the offense on Thursday night with 16 kills, her third highest kills output of her career and eighth double figure kill effort this season. Neufeld also contributed five digs and a career-high two blocks.
Yahaira Vazquez finished with a CCAA career-high ten kills to go along with a season-high tying two blocks.
Morgan Wilson totaled eight kills, a career-high eight digs, a career-high four service aces, and three blocks.
Kylah Guzman recorded season-high's across the board with nine kills, five digs, and two blocks.
Kyra Miller reached 44 assists, ten digs, two service aces, two blocks, and two kills. Miller's double-double was her third in a row and eighth of the year.
Jazmine Banks tallied 23 digs, three assists, and a service ace. The senior has six 20+ dig outings this season in addition to her program-record 17-match double figure dig streak.
Mariainez Lopez pitched in six digs, four kills, three blocks, and a service ace. Kaitlyn Anderson had nine digs and two service aces.
Banks and Wilson passed Rachael Schaefer for fourth and fifth in program history with 374 and 373 career sets played.
The Bobcats were without leading attacker Natalie Riley for the match.
UC Merced had to play catchup in the first set after falling behind 10-4. The Bobcats responded to the deficit with six consecutive points to pull even and had a 9-1 extended run to gain a 13-11 lead. Ruffin delivered three kills in the surge. Cal Poly Humboldt jumped back in front at 18-17 which started a stretch of multiple lead changes late in the frame. The Bobcats went ahead 20-19 after a Guzman kill but trailed 22-20 quickly after. Ruffin put down another kill and then back-to-back Humboldt errors gave the Bobcats a 23-22 lead. Then tied 23-23, Neufeld smacked a kill and Banks scored a service ace for set point.
UC Merced held a few four-point leads early in the second set but the Lumberjacks battled back with an 8-0 run to flip the lead, taking a 14-10 advantage. Despite coming back within a point at 17-16, the Bobcats were facing another four-point deficit later on at 23-19. Head coach Dr. Anitra Brockman's team responded to the deficit with a 5-1 run and fought off three set points, evening the score at 24-24 highlighted by back-to-back Wilson aces. Humboldt had three more chances at set point in extra points, but the Bobcats continued to go point-for-point. UC Merced had a set point opportunity of their own with a 28-27 lead, but Humboldt ultimately pulled through with three straight points to tie the match at 1-1 with a 30-28 set two win.
The Bobcats started the third set with a 9-0 run with Miller behind the service line. Wilson helped anchor the explosion with two kills and a block, while Vazquez had two kills. Humboldt started to slowly chip away at the Bobcats lead while gaining some momentum. Then trailing 13-7, the Lumberjacks scored eight straight points to completely change the set and go up 14-13. UC Merced never led the rest of the set, but did tie it seven times including as late as 23-23. The Bobcats trailed 23-20 before pulling even late, capped by a Lopez service ace. However, Humboldt won the next two rallies to take a 2-1 match lead.
Set four was back and forth. The Bobcats led 6-3 with the help of the block before Humboldt responded with a 4-0 spurt for a lead change. Neufeld and Miller responded with kills and then an Anderson ace had UC Merced ahead 9-7. The 'Jacks worked their way back for a 13-12 lead and had a 5-0 burst overall to go up 16-12. Brockman's squad worked the score to 17-17 before falling behind by two at 19-17. A 3-0 Bobcat run followed, capped by a Ruffin and Lopez block to give the Bobcats a 20-19 lead. The Bobcats 3-0 run extended into a set-ending 8-1 run to force a fifth set. Anderson was strong behind the service line to extend the match. UC Merced limited Humboldt to a -.233 (5/12/30) hitting percentage in the set.
Wilson opened the fifth set with a kill but that was the Bobcats only lead of the frame. Humboldt answered the kill with back-to-back points and a 10-3 run overall to own a 10-4 advantage. UC Merced cut the deficit to 12-10 with the help of Ruffin, but Humboldt scored the next three points to finish the five-set victory. Humboldt operated at a .438 success rate to finish the job, while the Bobcats hit just .000 in the fifth set.
UC Merced had more kills (57-47) and digs (67-62) than Humboldt in the match overall.
Looking ahead, UC Merced will play at Cal State Dominguez Hills on Saturday, October 17. First serve from the Torodome in Carson, Calif., is set for 5:00pm.
