Gauchos move into first place without Saraceno

DAVIS – Rebecca who?
 
Playing without All-America candidate and four-time Big West Player of the Week Rebecca Saraceno on Friday night at UC Davis hardly fazed the UCSB women’s volleyball team as they knocked off the Aggies 25-19, 25-20, 21-25, 25-15. The victory moves the Gauchos into a first-place tie with Long Beach State in the Big West.
 
UCSB, now 20-6 overall and 10-4 in the Big West, split the season series with the 49ers, but the Gauchos have more overall victories. The Gauchos reached 20 wins for the first time since 2005, as are the team’s league victories. UC Davis, in first place a week ago, falls to 18-10, 9-5.
 
Charlene DeHoog, playing in place of Saraceno had a season-high 16 kills while Stacey Schmidt had 12 and Kasey Kipp added 10 more. Saraceno is out of action this weekend after suffering a deep gash in her right knee last weekend when she collided with the scorer’s table at Cal Poly.
 
“The energy was phenomenal,” UCSB head coach Kathy Gregory said. “Charlene stepped up big to get the 16 kills. It was a great win.”
 
Dana Vargas had 46 assists and a career-high two solo blocks to go with two block assists. Schmidt added a pair of solo blocks while Kipp had five block assists. As a team, UCSB had 13.0 total blocks, two shy of its season best. The Gauchos held UC Davis to a mere .081 hitting percentage.
 
DeHoog enjoyed her first double-double of the year with 11 digs, while Vargas had 14 and Leah Sully added 12. Sully also had a pair of service aces.
 
UCSB will face Pacific on Saturday night at 7 p.m. before returning home for its final two matches on Saturday, Nov. 21 and Tuesday, Nov. 24. Those matches are at 7 p.m. in the Thunderdome.