FULLERTON, Calif. - Freshman Niki Withers and sophomore Paige Reed each posted new career highs but it was not enough as Cal State Fullerton dropped its final home match of the season to UC Irvine in four sets (32-30, 16-25, 22-25, 19-25) in a Big West Conference tilt Saturday night at Titan Gym.
The Titans (8-19, 2-12) opened up a quick lead on the Anteaters (18-11, 8-6) but could not ride the momentum throughout the match.
Withers was fantastic on the offensive end for the Titans, blasting a career-best 28 kills while hitting .229 on the night. It was Withers' second straight 20-plus kill performance and her sixth of the year. She has also tallied double-digit kills in 10 straight matches and 24 overall this season.
Reed, the reigning Big West Conference Defensive Player of the Week, showcased why she earned the honor after posting a career-high 32 digs against the Anteaters on Saturday night. It was her first career 30-dig effort and also set the new team-high for the Titans this season, eclipsing McKenna Painton's 30-dig performance on opening night against Bucknell.
Mackenzie Olsen also shined for the Titans, posting her eighth double-double of the season with 49 assists and 16 digs, the latter a new season-high. Holland Crenshaw had 10 kills with a .250 hitting percentage and Stephanie Buss added eight kills with a .438 hitting percentage to go along with six blocks.
Senior Devin Ulmer, who was honored with a pregame ceremony, finished the match with 12 digs and one assist.
For the Anteaters, Cassidy Pickrell led the way with a double-double, posting 16 kills and 17 digs. Allison Lee added a double-double of her own with 15 kills and 17 digs while Shelley Anderson dished out 53 assists as she set the team to a .241 hitting percentage on the night.
The Titans opened up with the lead after taking a tightly contested first set. The teams were all over the court defensively, combining for 59 digs including 12 by Fullerton's Reed and nine by Pickrell on UC Irvine's side. The teams were tied 13 times in the first and exchanged the lead six times. The Anteaters overcame a late five-point deficit in the set to pull even with the Titans 24-24. Fullerton had five set points in the first but the Anteaters were able to fight off four of them. The Titans managed to dodge a couple of set points themselves before finally putting away the Anteaters after Victoria Dennis' attack went into the net.
The Titans outhit the Anteaters in the first set .231 to .203 and got eight kills from Withers in the frame to go along with five from Crenshaw.
The Anteaters tied the match by taking the second set thanks in large part to a 6-1 scoring run that gave UC Irvine a nine-point lead. The Titans would cut the deficit down to five at one point but got no closer.
In the third set, the Titans opened up with a 6-0 run and held that six-point cushion for much of the early part of the frame. But the Anteaters posted a 7-1 run to turn a 10-4 deficit into an 11-11 tie. The game stayed close until the score was tied at 19. The Anteaters got a pair of kills from Lee and two service aces from Anderson to close out the third set on a 6-3 run and take a 2-1 lead in the match.
In the fourth set, the Anteaters jumped out to a 5-2 lead and never relinquished the lead as they hit .270 in the frame and got six kills from Lee to close out the Titans.
Fullerton will head to CSUN on Wednesday for its next match and then close out the 2014 regular season with a match at Long Beach State, which clinched the outright Big West Conference title on Saturday night with a win at UC Riverside.
Notes: The 32 points for the Titans in the opening set were the most the team has scored in a frame this season… Fullerton posted 85 digs on the night, the most since the team had 89 digs on opening night back on Aug. 29… Painton was one of four players with double-digit digs on the night, recording 13… Saturday night was the first time the Titans have dropped a match after winning the opening set at home this season… The match had 20 ties and eight lead changes overall.
