Leah Sully had 17 kills, 4 aces, and 18 digs in UCSB’s conference victory over Pacific in the Thunderdome on Friday, 25-21, 25-18, 22-25, 25-6.
After UCSB dropped the third game, Sully served fifteen straight points to put the Gauchos in control at 15-0 in the deciding fourth set. The momentum never left the Gauchos’ side of the net as their lead continued to grow. The game ended with a cross-court kill from Stacey Schmidt.
“It was really a good team effort, some of the plays we made blocking and Hannah Nielson had a great dig, it gets contagious and then they couldn’t get into a rhythm,” said UCSB head coach Kathy Gregory.
“Santa Barbara just outplayed us, they played a lot harder than we did,” credited Pacific head coach Gibbons.
Sully’s big night was aided by Kara Sherrard’s 14 kills and 11 digs. Schmidt gave UCSB 11 kills. Libero Chelsey Lowe provided 27 digs.
“Leah Sully put on a display that I have not seen in fifteen years from an outside hitter,” said Gregory.
“If you can’t pass, you can’t do a lot. You gotta hand it to Leah Sully, serving twelve straight points in a row that’s a hard job to do,” said Gibbons.
In the first game, the Gauchos took the lead with two great rallies early on, but Pacific came back to tie the game 7-7. UCSB took the lead and stayed ahead until the end.
It was neck and neck in the second game as UCSB and Pacific battled point for point. Jennifer Sanders tied up the game 6-all for the Tigers with a kill and block, one right after the other. UCSB answered back with a block from Schmidt that changed the momentum of the game and put the Gauchos ahead 14-13.
Sully maintained the momentum, putting down a kill on an important point to make it 17-18, helping send the Gauchos towards victory in the second game.
In game three, Pacific came out with extra fire and broke ahead. Though Katey Thompson came in and added two big blocks for UCSB at 17-19 and 18-19, Pacific stayed ahead to take the third game.
“We flipped our lineup to get the matchup we wanted,” Gibbons said about his winning third game.
Pacific’s Katy Tagart gave the Tigers 12 kills while teammate Samantha Misa added 10 kills.
This win puts the Gauchos 2-1 in Conference and they hope to keep their winning ways as they take on UC Davis October 1.
