Yesterday, the women’s volleyball team headed to Cal State San Bernardino to play in the West Regionals of the NCAA Tournament for the fifth consecutive year.

As the regular season comes to an end, the Triton Women’s Volleyball team sits high and looks forward to an 11th visit to the NCAA Tournament. Last year, the Triton women went into the postseason ranked No. 4 in the West region, cruising past Sonoma State in the first round before falling to Cal State San Bernardino in the second.

Senior Roxanne Brunsting picked up her 1000th career assist as the Tritons took two wins against Sonoma and Humboldt this weekend.

The Triton women’s volleyball team headed North on Friday, seeking retribution for their upset loss to Chico last month. UCSD’s preparation was well rewarded: A 3-1 victory over Chico bumped the Triton’s to 16-4 in the CCAA. After narrowly giving up the first game, UCSD was unyielding in the final three sets, coming back to finish off the Wildcats in their sixth straight victory.

The Tritons swept both CSU Los Angeles and CSU Dominguez Hills in three sets this weekend.

After a three-game slump, UCSD rebounded this weekend, putting together a three-game win streak.

The Tritons went 2-1 last week, suffering a loss at home against Cal State San Bernardino
and coming up short to Cal State Monterey Bay, before beating Cal State East Bay on the road.

The women’s volleyball team kicked off its road trip up north on Friday with a game against Humboldt State. Despite suffering its first loss of the season against Chico State last week, UCSD rebounded against the Lumberjacks beating Humboldt in straight sets.

For the sixth time this season, UCSD held opponents to under a .100 attack percentage, with Humboldt — 5-8 overall and 2-7 in the CCAA — hitting a mere .065 for the match.

UCSD middles junior Julia Freidenberg and freshman Lauren Demos both had a hand in the success of the Triton defense, with four blocks combined in the game.

The Tritons recorded 44 kills, as well as only 15 errors in 116 attempts for the match.

Senior outside hitter Katie Condon totaled 10 kills, while senior setter Roxanne Brunsting achieved her eighth double-double of the season with 16 assists and 15 digs.

“I was pleased by the way we played,” head coach Ricci Luyties said. “We were definitely focused and ready to play that match, and I think we played pretty well.”

On Saturday, the Tritons were upset 3-1 by the Sonoma State Seawolves. The loss dropped the team to 10-2 overall and 6-2 in the CCAA, where UCSD sits in fourth place.

UCSD hit a paltry .162 — their second-lowest percentage of the season — while the Seawolves hit a .275, along with 59 kills and 17 errors in 153 attacks.

“The ball control, serving and passing was won by them, and that makes a big difference in volleyball,” said Luyties. “I think that was the main difference in the match.”

The Tritons began the match with a 0.31 hitting percentage, resulting in an easy set won 25-31 by the Seawolves.

The Tritons pulled closer but narrowly dropped the second set 25-23, and then took the third set 19-25. Although the Tritons dug themselves out of the deficit by forcing the fourth set, the Seawolves put it away at 25-18.

Condon and Brunsting posted big numbers — with Condon picking up her fourth double-double of the season with 11 kills and 12 digs and Brunsting recording a match-high of 18 digs — though it wasn’t
enough to pull out the win.

The Tritons come back home this Wednesday, Oct. 5 to face undefeated 13-0 Cal State San Bernardino at 7 p.m.

“We know that we have to keep working hard and that the games are all going to be tough, and every one we’re going to play in our conference is very good. We’re just trying to get better everyday, and I think if we do that we’ll be good,” said Luyties.

A loss to Chico State this weekend snaps UCSD's nine-game perfect record.

UCSD women’s volleyball posted its first loss of the season on Saturday, shattering it’s nine-game loss-less streak, after falling to Chico State in five sets. The loss will put the Tritons back in the national rankings. Before losing 9-3 to the Wildcats, the Tritons were tied for No. 10 in the AVCA National Poll.

Leading up to the bout against Chico, UCSD had only lost one set in its five games against conference opponents. Uncharacteristically, the Tritons went down two sets by the end of the first half.
“I think we just got off to a really slow start, which kind of hurt us,” senior Katie Condon said, an outside hitter who recorded 16 digs and 22 kills in the campaign.

The Tritons dug themselves out of the deficit, taking the third and fourth sets, but dropped the fifth game 11-15 despite the aforementioned efforts of Condon and six blocks from junior outside hitter Julia Freidenberg.

“I just think we needed to pick it up on our side,” Condon said. “They were definitely outplaying us, but I think it was a good lesson for us.”

Last week UCSD secured wins against Cal State Los Angeles and Cal State Dominguez Hills. Against Cal State Los Angeles, senior outside hitter Hillary Williamson tied a career high of 20 kills and 19 digs. In the same match, senior outside hitter Roxanne Brunsting was just short of a second triple-double, while Williamson led all players against Dominguez Hills with 13 kills.

On Friday, Sept. 23, the Tritons swept Cal State Stanislaus for their ninth straight win.

Saturday’s loss to Chico State should prove to be just a minor bump in the road, since UCSD still ranks No. 3 nationally in digs, No. 8 in kills, and No. 10 in assists.

The Tritons also have the leader in kills per set in Williamson, who leads the CCAA with 4.29 kills per set, while Condon — who continues to perform consistently — has 663 career digs along with 800 career kills.

“We’ll be stronger from this, and we’re going to be working hard in practice for next weekend,” Condon said.

The Tritons will head up to Northern California to face off against Humboldt State on Friday, Sept. 30, before taking on Sonoma State on Saturday, Oct. 1.