LA JOLLA —The Gauchos found their fourth straight win Saturday night as the UCSB Women’s Volleyball team defeated host UC San Diego 3-1. UCSB now boasts an 11-1 record in Big West Conference play.
UCSB outhit UCSD by .318 to .118 and scooped up 71 digs to the Triton’s 53 during the match in La Jolla.
Freshman Michelle Ohwobete once again led the team with 16 kills on a .303 hitting percentage to go along with six digs and two blocks.
Four Gauchos reached double-digit digs with Macall Peed (19) leading the way followed by Grace Kloss (11), Kobie Jimenez (11), and Rowan Ennis (10)
Deni Wilson had a potent 11-1-23 line for a .435 hitting percentage to go with four blocks
UCSB won the opening set 25-16. There were zero ties and zero lead changes with the Gauchos dominating their way to a 1-0 lead.
During the set, UCSB led by as much as 10 and outhit UCSD .484 to .135.
UCSD won the second set 25-23.
The Tritons held the Gauchos to their lowest hitting percentage of the night at .200. But neither team gained more than a three-point advantage in the second frame battle that saw the Big West foes tied at 22-22.
Then UCSD scored two straight, with the Gauchos managing to fend off one set-point, but the host team avoided extra points and tied the match at 1-1 with a clutch kill.
UCSB won the third set 25-12.
The tiebreaker set was close through the early points, featuring seven ties and five lead changes until the teams met at 7-7
From there, the Gauchos closed out the remainder of the set on an 18-5 run holding the Tritons to a match-low .030 hitting percentage and seven kills.
Ohwobete ended the set with a kill assisted by Jimenez.
UCSB won the fourth set 25-18.
The set was much like the first in that the Gauchos led throughout its entirety
UCSB opened up the frame with a 10-0 run, all but sealing its second win of the season against UC San Diego.
The Tritons showed life late in the set holding off four straight match-points, but fell on a service error that ended the match.
The Gauchos now return home for another pair of back-to-back matches next weekend beginning with a Friday night matchup with Cal State Bakersfield and concluding with rival Cal Poly Saturday night. Both matches begin at 7 p.m.
Daniel Moebus-Bowles is the assistant sports communications director at UCSB.
email: dmason@newspress.com
