SANTA CLARA — Kathy Gregory added to her already legendary status on Friday morning as she coached the UCSB women’s volleyball team to a sweep of North Dakota and her 850th career win.
The Queen, as she’s affectionately known, becomes just the 10th coach in NCAA history to achieve the milestone and Gregory holds the third-most victories of any active coach. She ranks sixth in Division I history in wins.
Gregory, who won No. 800 in 2008, watched her Gauchos (3-4) dispense North Dakota handily, winning 25-12, 25-12, 25-21 in the opening match of the Santa Clara Tournament.
Kara Sherrard led the Gauchos with 11 kills and nine digs and Stacey Schmidt added 10 kills to go with five digs, a solo block and six block assists.
UCSB, which has been a defensively stout team thus far in 2011, totaled 11.0 team blocks and had 36 team digs. Eight of the nine players who saw court time scooped at least one dig. Middle blockers Jenna Wilson andLily Lopez joined Schimdt’s efforts at the net with five and four block assists, respectively.
The Fighting Sioux (5-3) hit -.054 for the match, another illustration of the Gauchos’ presence at the net. North Dakota had 25 hitting errors to go with just 20 kills.
The Gauchos also had six service aces, led by Schmidt’s three and Sherrard’s two.
