IRVINE, Calif. – CSU Bakersfield's volleyball team came out firing on Friday to open the UCI/LBSU Tournament with a pair of three-set sweeps. The Roadrunners defeated San Francisco 3-0 in the morning before taking down Montana State 3-0 to close the day with a pair of victories.
CSUB 3, USF 0
The opening set between the `Runners and Dons was tight with CSUB maintaining a few points of separation. CSUB took a 17-12 lead, but San Francisco clawed its way back in and pushed the set deep with ties at 21, 22, 23, 24, and 25 points. An attack error by the Dons set CSUB up with a set point and junior Mattison DeGarmo's kill put the `Runners ahead 1-0. Redshirt senior Haylee Roberts had seven kills in the opening set.
CSUB sprinted out to a 7-0 lead in the second set and extended its lead to nine points at 12-3 with the offense and defense running like a well-oiled machine. The `Runners controlled the rest of the set as well en route to a dominant, 25-12 win. Senior Fabiana Andrade dished out five assists while redshirt sophomore Sidney Wicks matched her teammate and added six digs.
The `Runners continued to roll through the Dons in the third and final set. A 10-3 CSUB advantage quickly turned into an 18-10 lead and the `Runners continued on take the third set 25-17 for a three-set sweep. At the top of her game all match long, Roberts added four more kills in the set while freshman Desireé Sukhov chipped in four kills and four digs.
Roberts, a native of Bakersfield, led the `Runners with a match-high 16 kills, .583 hitting percentage, and five blocks. Sukhov, who hails from Murrieta, Calif., had seven kills and 10 digs. Senior Aleksandra Djordjevic added 14 digs while Wicks recorded a double-double with 18 assists and 15 digs in the match.
CSUB 3, MSU 0
The first set again proved to be the tightest of the match in Friday's nightcap. The `Runners jumped out to a 13-7 lead over Montana State and kept a seven-point advantage all the way to 21-14. The Bobcats began to claw their way back into the set, winning six-straight points to make the score 24-23, CSUB. A final kill by redshirt senior Sydney Haynes sealed the first-set victory, 25-23, for the `Runners. Senior Emily Lopes recorded seven digs in the set.
Set 2 was all Bakersfield as CSUB sprinted to a 12-4 lead. MSU then rattled off a few points, but CSUB traded points with its opponents and took the game 25-16 while hitting .462 as a team in the set. Sukhov and Roberts both had four kills in the game while Wicks had nine assists and Andrade chipped in for eight assists.
The third and final set played much tighter, but the `Runners created some space at 15-10. MSU battled back, getting as close as 22-19 and then just two points away at 24-22, but an MSU service error proved fatal. CSUB took the third set 25-22 and the match 3-0. Junior transfer Briannah Mariner led the way for the `Runners with five kills in Set 3.
On the match, CSUB outhit Montana State .201 to .134. Roberts was the leader again in Match 2, adding 12 more kills to her CSUB season-best 133. Wicks tallied 21 more assists and came up one dig shy of her second double-double of the day. Andrade was good for 20 assists in the final match while Djordjevic had a team-high 16 digs.
The `Runners (6-7) will close out the UCI/LBSU Tournament on Saturday with one final match. CSUB will face off against host UC Irvine with first serve scheduled for 3 p.m. in Southern California.
~GoRunners.com~
