UC Irvine Women’s Volleyball (13-9, 7-4) comfortably handled Cal State Bakersfield (10-13, 4-7), 3-1, at the Icardo Center in Bakersfield, Calif. on Nov. 1.
Coming off a sweep against UC Riverside on Oct. 26, the Anteaters continued their momentum against a struggling Bakersfield team that has lost four of their past five games going into this matchup.
Despite Irvine being the favorites, the Roadrunners jumped to an early lead in the first set, 7-4. After trading kills, UCI pulled away with four straight points capitalized by two service aces from junior libero Campbell Jensen, making the score 11-9.
From then on, the ‘Eaters controlled the set. Their dominance came through their effective offense, with Irvine totaling 16 kills to Bakersfield’s eight. The set ended with consecutive kills from graduate middle blocker Ella Gardiner, ending the set 25-17.
The second set proved to be more competitive as momentum swung between both teams. Like the first set, Cal State Bakersfield took an early lead. Seven straight points, with three coming by way of service aces from Bakersfield sophomore setter Nene Hawkins, gave them an 8-2 lead. Irvine responded by scoring five of the next six points, with two kills from Gardiner.
Still, the Roadrunners continued to capitalize on poor hits from Irvine and took a 24-20 lead, just one point away from winning the set. UCI then rallied behind two kills from junior outside hitter Kendra MacDonald and two attacking errors from CSUB’s sophomore outside hitter Sydney Dunning to tie the set at 24 apiece. From then on, the sides traded punches. UCI sophomore setter/rightside Nicole Feliciano won a joust to tie the set at 29. However, Bakersfield mustered two consecutive kills from Dunning and senior outside hitter Paige Dugan to win an exhilarating set, 31-29.
Tied 1-1, the third set supplied the momentum swing that carried Irvine to victory. While the set started fairly evenly, UCI eventually pulled away. The Anteaters jumped to a 9-7 lead early, but three consecutive kills from CSUB’s junior right side Druegan Davis and senior middle blocker Samia Bhakta, who recorded two in a row, gave Bakersfield the lead 10-9.
The ‘Eaters answered by scoring eight of the next nine points with some help from four consecutive hitting errors and a service error from Cal State Bakersfield, making the score 17-11 in favor of UCI. This proved too much to overcome for Bakersfield as Irvine coasted to a third-set victory, 25-16.
The sloppy play of CSUB was evident in the box score. While Irvine totaled a hit percentage of 0.265 in the set, Bakersfield only managed a 0.051 — a large reason for the loss.
As the Anteaters sought to close out the match in the fourth set, Cal State Bakersfield felt the urgency and jumped to an early lead, 10-5. However, Irvine bounced back by scoring 14 of the next 17 points and bolstered their lead, 19-13. During the run, graduate outside hitter Katie Smith and graduate opposite/outside hitter Hunter Riedl both had two kills.
A UCI win seemed inevitable as their lead grew to 22-16 with two kills from Gardiner. However, Bakersfield would not roll over, rallying four points in a row to close the gap, 22-20. However, it was UCI who stayed composed, scoring three points in a row to end the set 25-20 and the match 3-1. Of the last three points, two were attacking errors from CSUB’s Dugan.
Irvine’s Gardiner led the way with 16 total kills, with Feliciano grabbing a match-leading 41 assists to help aid the Anteaters in their victory. Bakersfield’s Dunning led the match in total blocks with four.
The Anteaters won their third win in a row in Northridge against CSUN (8-15, 3-9), 3-1, on Nov. 2, adding another Big West conference victory to their record.
UC Irvine will take on UC San Diego next on Nov. 8 at the Bren Events Center.
Jordan Hum is a Sports Intern for the fall 2024 quarter. He can be reached at jrhum@uci.edu.
Edited by Benjamin Flores, Jack Fedor and Mia Noergaard.