FULLERTON, Calif. – Madeline Schneider was clutch down the stretch putting together the best performance of her season with a career-high 26 kills, while Titans had match point, but ultimately UC Davis was able to escape Titan Gym with a 3-2 (19-25, 25-22, 25-19, 16-25, 18-16) victory on Saturday night.
The Titans had match point at 16-15 after grinding back to win a fourth set, but the Aggies earned a kill and then took advantage of a Titan error to claim the 18-16 fifth set win.
In addition to Schneider's 26-kill performance, she also managed to attack at .371 clip while just committing three errors and recording 12 digs for her seventh double-double of the season. Katelyn Nielson also had a productive night in her 2017 debut, recording 12 kills and four digs on the night. Summer Kerins and Jayla Norman chipped in with eight and seven kills apiece.
Cady Francis played her second straight game at that libero position, and was absolutely stellar, producing a career-high 30 digs. She now has 47 digs over her last two contests.
Nastassja Bowman raised her level of play, as she went up against her younger sister Paloma Bowman. Nastassja recorded her team-best ninth double-double of the year with 43 assists and 10 digs. Katie Roux also chipped in with 10 digs.
Aniya Henry came through with a career-best six block assists.
Fullerton (4-16, 0-7) set the tone early, dominating the opening set from start to finish. The Titans outhit UC Davis (11-9, 3-4 BWC) .205 to .104 while forcing eight Aggie errors. Fullerton cruised to the 25-19 win to claim the 1-0 lead.
The Titans continued to battle point-for-point in the second set, as no team ever held more than a four score advantage, but ultimately UC Davis was able to squeak out a 25-22 victory to knot things up at 1-1.
Fullerton then found itself in a deeper hole, as the Aggies put together their best hitting set of the night to claim a 25-19 win and a 2-1 lead. However, there was no quit in these Titans, as they then fired back with their best set of night, putting together one of their most dominating hitting spans of the year. The Titans recorded a .500 attack percentage while just committing just one error, running away to a 25-16 win to force a fifth and deciding set.
Fullerton was resilient once again, rallying back after falling behind 8-2 early. Unfortunately the Titans came about as close as one could come without earning a win.
The Titans will close the three-match homestand with Long Beach State, Tuesday at 7 pm PT.
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