On Senior Night, the Aggies sent their seniors off with the only present they could have asked for – a win.
“I can’t help but think about the seniors as we go into this weekend,” head coach Jamie Holmes said. “This has been a special season for them, and they have truly left their mark on where this program is going.”
Things did not go the Aggies’ way Friday night against the UC Santa Barbara as the Gauchos came out on top in four sets. The loss dropped the Aggies into a tie for third place in the very competitive Big West Conference.
The Aggies got redemption Saturday night, as they took down the Mustangs of Cal Poly in five exciting sets on Senior Night. With the win the Aggies maintained a tie for third in the Big West standings.
Friday – UC Santa Barbara 3, UC Davis 1
UC Davis entered the match tied for second with UCSB.
After the contest, Aggies found themselves in third place in the conference.
The Aggies battled, but could not overcome the Gauchos as they fell 25-19, 25-20, 21-25, 25-15 in four sets in front of a home crowd at Hickey Gymnasium.
Freshman Allison Whitson led the Aggies on offense with 15 kills.
Fellow freshman Kaitlyn Plum had a career-high 13 digs while senior libero Avreeta Singh scooped up 12 of her own while adding three of her team’s six aces.
As a team the Gauchos had thirteen blocks including eight in the first set. They were not able to put the Aggies away for the sweep but took care of business in the fourth set.
The Gauchos had an advantage in kills by a 56-38 margin and hit .217 to the Aggies’ .081. With the win the Gauchos took over sole possession of second place in the league with a 10-4 conference record.
Saturday – UC Davis 3, Cal Poly 2
The Aggies honored their three seniors – Singh, Carson Lowden, and Tori Hooper – in a 26-28, 28-26, 25-23, 22-25, 15-6 win against Cal Poly.
The Aggie faithful came out strong for senior night with 635 in attendance at Upper Hickey Gymnasium.
Junior opposite Melanie Adams led the Aggies with a career-high 24 kills and served up four of her team’s eleven aces against the Mustangs.
Whitson had 16 kills with six blocks, while sophomore Katie Denny hit 11-2-1 for a .429 hitting average along with three aces.
Sophomore middle blocker Betsy Sedlak led the Aggie blocking attack with nine while Singh and Plum had a combined 30 digs.
Holmes made sure her three seniors were on the floor for the first part of the night as well as the last.
“I’m going to miss this class of seniors,” Holmes said. “They have been a wonderful group – Tori, Avreeta and Carson. They epitomize the type of athlete you want in your program. They’re respectful, they’re unselfish, they work hard everyday and they think of their team.”
With the win the Aggies move to 10-5 in conference play and 19-10 overall. The Aggies finish up their season this Saturday against Pacific.
KYLE HYLAND can be reached at sports@theaggie.org.
