Teams: UC Davis at UC Santa Barbara and Cal Poly
Records: UC Davis (13-7, 4-2); UC Santa Barbara (12-4, 3-2); Cal Poly (6-13, 2-4)
Where: Friday in the Thunderdome; Santa Barbara, Calif. and Saturday at Mott Gym; San Luis Obispo, Calif.
When: Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m.
Who to watch: Junior outside hitter Kayla Varney tallied team highs of 14 kills and 16 digs, hitting .355 on 31 swings in Saturday’s victory against Cal State Fullerton.
The Murrieta, Calif. native is enjoying a stellar season so far holding the No. 10 spot in digs in the Big West Conference with 3.27 digs per set and helping the Aggies to a strong start in conference play at 4-2.
Did you know? With their 13th victory of the season last Saturday the Aggies have already eclipsed last years win total of 12 while only playing two-thirds of their season so far.
Preview: The Aggies have been having a good season beating strong opponents like Cal State Fullerton and Pacific who are ranked 67 and 70 respectively in RPI update.
Last weekend the Aggies lost to No. 21 Long Beach State before beating Cal State Fullerton. Head coach Jamie Holmes is very proud of her team’s hunger so far this year.
“I think our team continually shows that they’re hungry,” Holmes said. “They go for it and leave it all out on the court. “They’re maintaining a level of play, which is another encouraging stepping-stone.”
The Aggies have two more tough matches this weekend, facing UC Santa Barbara who has owned UC Davis with an 11-0 record against the Aggies. The Aggies have only won one set in those 11 matches and are looking for some redemption against the Gauchos this Friday.
The Aggies will then travel to Cal Poly to face the Mustangs on Saturday.
“UC Santa Barbara is doing some really good things, while Cal Poly has the potential of being very good,” Holmes said.
“I’m pretty encouraged. I think our team plays well on the road, and we’ll be able to get back into our on-the-road routine.”
– Kyle Hyland
