Oct. 21, 2011
Santa Barbara, Calif. - Career nights for Leah Maurer and Gabrielle Dewberry were not enough to get Cal State Fullerton past UC Santa Barbara as the Gauchos outlasted the Titans, 3-1, in a Big West Conference contest at The Thunderdome Friday night.
With the 19-25, 27-29, 25-23, 13-25 loss, the Titans fall to 9-11 overall and 4-4 in league, and drop out of the three-way tie for second place with Cal Poly and UCSB. The Mustangs were defeated in five sets by league-leading Long Beach State earlier in the night.
With the win, Santa Barbara improves to 12-9, 5-3 and splits the season series with the Titans.
Maurer set a career high with 18 kills on Friday, but also added 13 digs and three blocks to lead the way in the loss. Kayla Neto also scored a double-double with 16 kills and 20 digs and also added a pair of service aces for the Titans.
The Titan duo combined for 34 of the Titans' 51 kills, but Santa Barbara had four players in double figures in kills accounting for 54 of the 64 team kills. Kara Sherrard paced the Gauchos with 18 kills and 18 digs. The landed attacks from the Gaucho hitters were key in the outcome as Fullerton (40) and Santa Barbara (39) were neck and neck in the error columns.
Dewberry became the second Titan to record 30-or-more digs this season, scooping up a match-high 33 Gaucho attacks. It's just the 10th time in school history that an individual has recorded 33-or-more digs in a single match, and the first time since 2010 (Cami Croteau, Nov. 20, 2010, 38 digs) someone has had more than 30 digs. Dewberry is tied with Vanessa Vella for the eighth-most digs in school history.
The Titans hit just .139 as a team and never hit higher than .167 in any set. The Gauchos may have had a hand in that finishing with a slight edge in the block department, 10.5 to 10. Jenna Wilson led the way for all blockers with six on the Gaucho side. Elle Moffatt and Leah Best had four each for Fullerton.
Another milestone was reached by senior setter Andrea Ragan as she became the first Titan to surpass the 4,000 assist plateau. The all-time leader in Cal State Fullerton history now sits at 4,005 career assists.
The Titans drive inland for tomorrow night's match in San Luis Obispo against Cal Poly. First serve from Mott Gym is scheduled for 7 p.m.