Leah Sully, Rebecca Saraceno and Stacey Schmidt each notched double-digit kills as the UC Santa Barbara women’s volleyball team swept past Loyola Marymount at the Thunderdome on Tuesday night, 25-21, 25-15, 25-19.
The win extended the Gauchos’ winning streak to four games, the team’s longest since winning four straight in November, 2007.? Sully led the trio of S’s with 15 kills while Saraceno had 14 and Schmidt added 10. As a team UCSB hit .333 for the match, holding LMU (9-5) to a mere .121 percentage.
The Gauchos, now 9-2, are off to their best start since starting the 2004 season 10-2.?Saraceno tallied her sixth double-double of the season by leading the Gauchos with 18 digs, which also serve as her season-high. Dana Vargas passed out 40 assists with eight digs while Olivia Ruff also had eight digs. Lily Lopez had six of the team’s 12 block assists while also tallying five kills.? ?
Sully and Saraceno each tallied six kills in the first set, to get UCSB off to a fast start. In the second Saraceno had six kills while Sully added five. Schmidt had four kills in each of the first two sets.? ?
UCSB opens Big West play this Friday night at 7 p.m. in the Thunderdome when the Gauchos host UC Riverside. The Gauchos follow that up with a Saturday night match – also at 7 p.m. in the Thunderdome – against No. 21 UC Irvine.
