Oct. 25, 2008

Final Stats

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - Junior Tela Burnett had a team-high nine kills and hit .615 but Cal State Northridge suffered its 14th loss in its last 15 matches as the Matadors fell 25-21, 25-12, 25-22 at UC Santa Barbara on Saturday at The Thunderdome.

With the win, the Gauchos improve to 9-11 overall and 5-4 in the Big West. The loss drops the Matadors to 6-17 overall and 1-9 in conference play.

Burnett, Val Kepler and Siara Grayson were the lone bright spots for the Northridge hitters on Saturday. Burnett added four blocks to her effort while Grayson had eight kills while hitting .240 and Kepler added six kills while hitting .385. Sophomore Brittany Williams had seven kills but hit just .036 and Kelley Hanson had a match-high 15 digs.

The Gauchos bolted out to early leads of 7-3 and 9-4 in the first set. The UCSB lead grew to as many as eight on three occasions, the last at 17-9, before the Matadors began to mount their comeback. A 9-1 Northridge run, capped by an Angela Hupp service ace, closed the gap to 18-17. The Matadors also trailed by one at 19-18, 20-19 and 21-20 before the Gauchos wrapped up the set by scoring four of the final five points.

After falling behind 7-1 in the second set, Northridge battled back to within four points at 11-7 after a Leigh Stephenson service error. But a 5-0 UCSB run boosted the lead back to 16-7 and the Matadors trailed by double figures the remainder of the set. A Grayson attack error on set point gave the Gauchos a two-set lead.

Set three was the tightest of the match. A Lauren McLaughlin hitting error gave the Matadors their biggest lead of the set at 4-1. But an ensuing 5-0 UCSB run gave the Gauchos the lead back for good at 6-4. A Lily Lopez kill gave the Gauchos their largest lead at 13-7 before the Matadors claimed 10 of the next 14 points to pull within 17-15 following a Williams kill. But back-to-back Gaucho kills put UCSB on top 19-15 and Northridge played catch-up from that point on. The Matadors were able to get within two points three times down the stretch but a Burnett service error ended the match with the Gauchos on top 25-22.

McLauglin led UCSB with 13 kills (.278) and Rebecca Saraceno added 10 kills (.088). The Gauchos hit .237 (43-15-118) to the Matadors' .139 (34-19-108).

Cal State Northridge returns to The Matadome next weekend as the Matadors host UC Riverside on Friday (Oct. 31) and UC Irvine on Saturday (Nov. 1).

- GO MATADORS -