BAKERSFIELD, Calif. – CSU Bakersfield's volleyball team played its closest match of the season as emotions ran high in the Icardo Center. In a fight for second place in the Western Athletic Conference, the Roadrunners came out victorious with a five-set victory (25-22, 22-25, 25-15, 20-25, 15-13) over UTRGV on Thursday night.
After dropping the fourth set, CSUB Head Coach Giovana Melo was not worried that her squad would falter in the fifth: "I knew we were going to battle to the end. We talked about being together, even in the harder moments. We were making some mistakes and falling apart a little bit, so, we talked about being a team when things are not going well and we did that tonight."
The match started out tight, but the Vaqueros surged ahead to a 10-7 lead in the first set. The `Runners responded well, winning eight of the next nine points to take a 15-11 lead at the media timeout. CSUB and UTRGV went back and forth with the `Runners holding a slim lead at 23-22. Senior Aleksandra Djordjevic converted for kills from setter Sidney Wicks on each of the last two points to give the `Runners a 1-0 lead on the match.
In the second set, UTRGV jumped out to an early lead at 6-2. A CSUB surge brought the set as a close as 15-13, but the `Runners had to call a timeout trailing 18-13. The Vaqueros raced on and took the set by a score of 25-22 to tie the match at 1-1.
The `Runners came out of the 10-minute break on fire, racing to an 8-2 lead as the Vaqueros called a timeout. UTRGV got as close as 17-13, but the `Runners finished strong and took a dominant, 25-15 victory to earn a 2-1 advantage.
The fourth set was the tightest thus far with the `Runners holding a slim, 15-14 lead when the media timeout was called. The set was tied at 20 points apiece when UTRGV went on a 5-0 run to win 25-20 and send the match to the deciding set.
After trailing 3-2, the `Runners won the next five points to go ahead 7-3. The Vaqueros would not go down without a fight and climbed back and a controversial call in UTRGV's favor tied the match at 9-9. The score was then tied at 10, 11, and 13 points. From 13-13, redshirt senior Sydney Haynes earned a kill and a UTRGV attack error sealed CSUB's thrilling, five-set victory.
Wicks, a native of Aurora, Colo., led the way with a season-high 37 assists and added 10 digs for a double-double. Djordjevic had a double-double of her own, posting a new career-high 15 kills to go with 12 digs. Haynes finished with 11 kills on a .333 hitting percentage and fellow redshirt senior Haylee Roberts contributed seven blocks on the night.
With the victory, the `Runners (16-12, 9-4 WAC) moved into a tie with UTRGV for second in the conference standings. New Mexico State locked up the WAC regular-season championship on Thursday night, but the `Runners could still take the second seed for the WAC Tournament next week.
~GoRunners.com~
