FULLERTON, Calif. - Cal State Fullerton finished the Fullerton Classic Presented by Embassy Suites - North Orange County with a 1-2 record after splitting a pair of matches on Saturday at Titan Gym as freshman Niki Withers earned her second selection to an all-tournament team this season.
Match One: Cal State Fullerton 3, Georgetown 2 (Box Score PDF)
Withers set a new career high as she hammered down 25 kills to lead the Titans to a thrilling 3-2 (25-17, 17-25, 25-19, 23-25, 15-11) victory over Georgetown in each team's first match of the day at Titan Gym.
Withers was outstanding for the Titans (6-6), committing just six hitting errors and posting a .339 hitting percentage. Withers recorded her third 20-kill performance of the season and 12th consecutive double-digit kill output of the year.
Freshman Katelyn Nielsen also set a new career high against the Hoyas (6-6) as she had 12 kills while Holland Crenshaw notched 10 on a .212 hitting percentage. Mackenzie Olsen dished out 42 assists to go along with six digs and senior Devin Ulmer added a team-high three service aces along with seven digs.
Defensively, the Titans tallied 75 digs as a team and had three players record double figures. Sophomore libero McKenna Painton led the way with 21 while Rachel Brown and Paige Reed each tallied 12 digs.
For the Hoyas, three players recorded double-digit kills, led by Dani White's 15-kill output. Terese Cannon added 14 kills and Ashlie Williams had 13 with a team-best .333 hitting percentage.
The match was close throughout as it featured 25 ties and 12 lead changes. In the fifth set, the teams were deadlocked on three occasions while the lead switched hands only once. That came with early on in the set after the Hoyas scored the first point of the frame. Withers notched two kills with an attacking error by White sandwiched in between to give the Titans a 3-1 lead. The Hoyas would tie the set a four and nine points, but the Titans never relinquished their grasp on the set, closing out the match on a 6-2 run.
Match Two: UCLA 3, Cal State Fullerton 0 (Box Score PDF)
Withers added 12 more kills to her total on the day but it was not enough as the Titans were swept by No. 22 UCLA (25-22, 25-20, 25-12) in the tournament finale.
Withers also had three blocks while Olsen had 24 assists and five digs and Katie Roux led the defense with eight digs. Crenshaw had her best performance of the weekend at the net, tallying seven blocks (two solo).
The Bruins, who went undefeated on the weekend to claim the tournament championship, were led by tournament-MVP Karsta Lowe's 17 kills and .412 hitting percentage.
Fullerton Classic All-Tournament Team
MVP - Karsta Lowe, UCLA
Claire Felix, UCLA
Mollie Rogers, Yale
Kelly Johnson, Yale
Niki Withers, Cal State Fullerton
Dani White, Georgetown
Notes: Withers also set a new career high with 56 attempts against Georgetown, the most attempts by a Titans player this season… The Titans are now 1-1 in five-set matches this season… Former Titan and current UCLA setter Julie Consani had 35 assists, three digs and two kills against her former team. Consani played three years at Cal State Fullerton and ranks sixth on the Titans all-time record book in assists per set… Yale finished the tournament in second place; winning two of their three matches including a four-set win over Georgetown on Saturday afternoon. The Hoyas went winless at the Fullerton Classic.