Posted: Oct 24, 2015
Fullerton, Calif. – Despite a pair of double-doubles from Mackenzie Olsen and Kyra Hill in the contest, the Cal State Fullerton volleyball team was unable to complete the comeback as the Titans fell by a score of 3-1 [22-25, 17-25, 25-21, 13-25] to UC Irvine Friday night.
The Titans (0-19, 0-7 Big West) have now dropped 22 matches in a row dating back to November 2014, while the Anteaters improve to 9-11 on the year and 3-5 in conference action.
Olsen finished the match with 36 assists and 13 digs for her team-leading third double-double of the year. Joining Olsen with a double-double was Hill who notched 11 kills and 10 digs for her first double-double of the season. The sophomore outside hitter also had a career day at the net with six total blocks, five of which were solo.
Offensively, the Titans were led by Megann Delgado's 12 kills. She also contributed seven digs, one block, a single assist and one ace in the setback.
As a team the Titans hit .126 and held the edge on digs with 69 to Irvine's 66.
UC Irvine was led by Marisa Bubica and Harlee Kekauoha who tallied 13 and 11 kills, respectively. Samantha Frost paced the Anteaters' defense with 26 digs, while Emily Blair set the tone as she dished out 30 assists.
The first set was a back and forth affair between the two teams as the conference foes found themselves deadlocked seven times. Cal State Fullerton took an 18-14 lead after an ace from Delgado to force the Anteaters to call for a timeout. Following the break in action, UC Irvine battled back and evened the score at 22-all before the Anteaters completed the comeback with three consecutive points to win the set, 25-22.
The Anteaters controlled the second set early on as UC Irvine led Cal State Fullerton by as many as 11 points on two occasions. However, the Titans refused to quit as they chipped away at UC Irvine's lead and cut the deficit to four (18-14). With the game within reach, the Titans were unable to close the gap as the Anteaters regained control and took the second set by a score of 25-17.
On the brink of a sweep, the Titans rallied in the third set to turn a six-point deficit into a 21-21 tie game. Kyra Smith did her job at the serve as she evened the score with an ace before the Anteaters gave away the lead on an attack error. Cal State Fullerton took advantage of the miscue and used the momentum to knock down three more points on kills from Katleyn Nielsen and Kandace Thomas, before Smith sealed the set win with an ace en route to defeating UC Irvine, 25-21.
The Titans started out strong in the fourth set as they battled through half a dozen ties before UC Irvine took an 8-7 advantage that it would not relinquish. The Anteaters forced the Titans into a negative attack percentage (-.088) and cruised to a 25-13 victory to win the set and match.
Cal State Fullerton returns to the court in search of its first win of 2015 on Saturday, Oct. 24 at 7 p.m. when the Titans host UC Davis. Live stats, video and audio will be available on FullertonTitans.com.
