Nov. 2, 2009

Complete Release in PDF Format

THIS WEEK
Friday, Nov. 6 - at Cal State Fullerton, 7 p.m.
Saturday, Nov. 7 - at Long Beach State, 7 p.m.

LAST WEEK
Friday, Oct. 30 - UC IRVINE (W, 3-1)
Saturday, Oct. 31 - UC RIVERSIDE (W, 3-0)

NOTES
TO RECAP: UC Davis (18-7, 9-2) took over sole possession of first place in the Big West Conference upon Friday's 3-1 upset of then No. 23 UC Irvine... That win marked the first time the program has beaten a team in the AVCA Division I Top 25... The Aggies followed with a sweep against UC Riverside to maintain a one-match cushion ahead of UC Santa Barbara... Junior OH Kayla Varney earned conference Player of the Week honors, averaging 3.00 kills and 4.29 digs for the weekend... She led the Aggies with 15 kills in Friday's victory over the Anteaters, then tallied a team-high 18 digs in Saturday's sweep against the Highlanders... Varney had 10 of the 18 digs in the first set, helping UC Davis escape a brief deficit en route to the win.

REACHING HIGHER: At 18 victories with five matches to go, the Aggies have amassed their highest win total since going 18-14 in 2000... The last time a UC Davis volleyball team posted 20 victories in a season was 1996 (21-11)... Not coincidentally, the last time the Aggies held first place in a league race this late in the season was also that 1996 year, when UC Davis went 11-1 to win the Division II non-scholarship Northern California Athletic Conference... In any case, the current 18-7 mark represents a phenomenal achievement given the program's combined 15 wins during the four-year period from 2004 through 2007.

BIG WEST CONFERENCE LEADERS: Aided by 12 stuffs in three sets during Saturday's win, the Aggies held their lead atop the team blockers chart at 2.42 bps... Hitting 12-2-24 (.417) for the weekend helped sophomore Betsy Sedlak moved into the top 10 in hitting percentage with a .283 success rate... She also ranks 3rd in blocks (1.13), ahead of teammate Katie Denny (1.08)... Other Aggies among the rankings: Allison Whitson (6th in kills, 3.45), Carson Lowden (5th in assists, 10.19), Melanie Adams (9th in aces, 0.27), Avreeta Singh (7th in digs, 3.77), Varney (10th in digs, 3.34).

THE STREAK: UC Davis has now won six straight matches, the longest win streak since opening 7-0 in 1999... The Aggies have hit .251 during the six wins after managing just .197 in the five preceding conference matches (in which they went 3-2)... Lowden has improved from 10-2-25 (.320) in the first five to 23-4-41 (.463) in the next six... Sedlak went from .300 (30-9-70) to .385 (39-9-78)... However, Varney has been the most marked difference: she hit 48-30-167 (.108) in the team's 3-2 start to conference, but 76-24-171 (.304) during the six-match hot streak.

UP NEXT: UC Davis takes to the road for matches at Cal State Fullerton (Friday) and Long Beach State (Saturday)... Both opponents had similar weekends, sweeping Cal Poly and falling in three to UC Santa Barbara.

LONG BEACH STATE (14-6, 7-3) slipped to third in the Big West Conference standings after a 25-23, 25-20, 25-16 loss to UC Santa Barbara on Saturday... Senior OH Naomi Washington led the 49ers on both nights, including a 14-2-25 (.480) output against Cal Poly... She ranks third in the conference at 4.04 kills per set... The Beach is one of three teams listed in the Others Receiving Votes in the November 2 AVCA Coaches Poll.

CAL STATE FULLERTON (13-10, 4-6) enjoyed a commanding weekend from Big West Conference Freshman of the Year candidate Kayla Neto... The 6-foot-2 outside hitter posted a 11-1-26 (.385) offensive chart with four blocks at UCSB on Friday, then put up 13-2-21 (.524) hitting numbers the following night in San Luis Obispo... Fans awaiting the results on Friday night may want to boil an extra pot of coffee: three of the last four matchups between the Aggies and Titans have gone five sets.

HEAD COACH JAMIE HOLMES:
On Friday's win against UCI: "Everything rises and falls with your ability to pass the ball and stay in system. I think our serve-receive line was very strong, not only in having perfect passes but also in keeping the ball in tempo and rhythm. If you looked at our side of the net versus UC Irvine's side, though they were passing well, their tempo was all over the place. Right from the get-go, we established ourself as a team that would be in tempo and rhythm. If you can do that, you can get your middles involved early. I think that separated us from the beginning."

"What also separated us from Irvine is that we got better swings in transition. I think that had a lot to do with the rhythm and tempo. Usually the team with the most solid swings in transition will win the point. And our venue was really exciting. I couldn't be more excited for the campus and the community to have an event like that. It was rocking in there. How could our team not play up to our potential, or outside our potential, in a venue like that?"

On the team's improved hitting efficiency: "First, it has to do with the first-ball contact, if it be the serve receive or the dig. In volleyball, we call that dig-to-convert. From the very beginning, during two-a-days, we looked at what we could be great at, what we could focus on to separate ourselves. We've worked a lot on our attacking. There is a correlation between hitting percentage and winning. If we didn't get better in that statistical category, we wouldn't get better in terms of winning and losing. We concentrated on attacking out of system, on attacking in transition, and off serve receive. If you can get better at hitting out of system, chances are your side-out percentage will go up."

"This is an important weekend, going into Fullerton and Long Beach. Will we maintain our leadership in the Big West Conference, or will we come out tied with three other teams? We talk about having a bullseye on the wall and having a vision of the center of that bullseye. It stretches you out of your comfort zone, and it makes unpleasant drills more pleasant because you know you're accomplishing something. Our team is excited, but I think they're just hungry to see what they can accomplish this season."