The UCI Women’s Volleyball team (13-8, 6-5) was defeated by the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos (13-8, 9-2), 3-0, at the Thunderdome in Santa Barbara on Oct. 27.
The first set of the match began fairly tame. Both teams went blow for blow with kills from UCI junior outside hitter Joy Umeh, UCSB junior outside hitter Michelle Ohwobete and senior middle blocker Deni Wilson to make it an even 4-4 score. UCSB went on a 3-0 run to make it a 7-5 lead.
The points kept rolling in from the Gauchos as UCSB went on a hot streak with an 8-1 streak to make it a 10-5 set. A kill by UCI sophomore opposite Ellen Veargason stopped the onslaught at 15-7. After a couple of unforced errors from the ‘Eaters, a bad set by junior setter Kelly Negron and an attack error by Umeh, UCSB’s lead extended to 18-8.
While UCSB ultimately maintained their lead in the first set, UCI did come up with a solid response back. UCI then went on a short 3-0 run, with one kill and a block assist coming in from junior middle blocker Onye Ofoegbu to make it a 12-21 set. UCSB scored another point from an attack error by sophomore outside hitter Marianna Bertolone. UCI then made another run, going 5-0 against UCSB with two kills from redshirt junior middle blocker Kiani Stanton, one from Veargason and two by Bertolone to make it a 22-16 set. Veargason and Umeh then both scored to make it a 23-18 game, but UCSB scored two more to take the first set 25-19.
UCSB quickly went on a 3-0 run at the beginning of the second set, followed by two UCI attack errors to make the game 5-3. UCSB then broke the lid wide open and scored five straight, making it a 10-3 set. UCI scored two more off of a kill by Veargason and an attack error by UCSB’s junior right side Tasia Farmer to cut UCSB’s lead to 10-5.
However, the Gauchos soon found themselves up 14-7 off of a kill by Ohwobete, another kill by Farmer and two more errors from Negron and Umeh respectively.
The Gauchos continued their ever-widening run and were able to go up to 19-9, albeit on the back of quite a few errors from the Anteaters. UCI scored their next two points off attack errors from UCSB’s Ohwobete and junior outside hitter Briana McKnight, but offensively kept silent at 20-11 toward the end of the second set. UCSB won the second set, 25-11.
The third and final set of the match began with a 2-1 advantage for UCI, with an attack error from UCSB’s Ohwobete and a kill from Umeh. The score soon became a 6-2 lead for UCSB after four UCI attack errors. To their credit, UCI mustered a good response back, with one kill coming from Stanton and two kills from Ofoegbu to make it a 8-5 set.
The lead for UCSB was extended further to 16-9 with an 8-4 run, courtesy of a barrage of kills from freshman right side/setter Kimi Waller, Wilson, McKnight, Farmer and an attack error by Bertolone. A kill by freshman outside hitter Keelan Williams sparked a close run at the end by UCI to make it a close 24-20 game. However, UCSB closed out the game with one final kill by Deni Wilson to win their third and final set 25-20.
One of the more striking differences offensively in this matchup between the two UC schools was how much less UCI was simply hitting the ball. UCI’s hitting percentage for the game was a season-low 0.039%, as opposed to UCSB’s 0.252% which ultimately meant that there were less attacks and kills being made from the positional players. Another factor that also hurt the UCI Women’s Volleyball Team in this game was that they were getting more attack and ball handling errors than usual, which contributed significantly to many of UCSB’s early in-game score games.
With her one block assist, UCI middle blocker Onye Ofoegbu is now 10th all time in the school’s leaderboards in block assists with 271, right alongside Taryn Robinson (2006-2009).
Phillip Lemus is a Sports Intern for the fall 2022 quarter. They can be reached at plemus1@uci.edu
