Women’s Volleyball – Sun, Oct. 17, 2021
MERCED, Calif. – The University of California, Merced women’s volleyball team earned their second sweep in as many matches and extended their winning streak to a season-long three games with a 3-0 (25-22, 25-18, 25-15) victory over Simpson University on Saturday evening inside the Joseph Edward Gallo Gymnasium.
The Bobcats (7-11, 7-2) have now earned back-to-back Cal Pac sweeps in three consecutive seasons after having done so just once in the program’s first eight years of existence.
Olivia Harden continued her impressive run in the win and extended her double figure kill streak to a career-long five matches. She has also held match-high in all five matches and was good for 13 more kills without an error for a .448 hitting percentage on Saturday. Last match she became the first player in program history without an error with a minimum of 20 attempts. Now, she becomes the first ever Bobcat with double figures kills and no errors in two straight matches.
The Exeter, Calif., native also added a season-high three blocks, one solo.
Two other Bobcats recorded either a season-high or a career-high. Lexus Lagumbay recorded a season-high 20 digs in addition to her four kills and two service aces. Lagumbay’s digs total was the second highest of any Bobcat this year.
Edwena Wong and Destiny Lei Ramilo were also strong in the back row with 14 and eight digs, respectively.
Serena Choi contributed 18 assists and a career-high four service aces while combining with Bianca Malaluan (15 assists) to run the Bobcats offense to a .296 success rate. Choi becomes the sixth player in program history to eclipse 600 career assists.
Other individual notables include seven kills each from Olanasaze Ojo and Teola Nowak, three blocks from Valentina Evans and two service aces from Annamarie Caldero.
Ojo and Nowak each had a .400+ hitting percentage.
The first set was highlighted by a pair of Bobcat runs, including a 4-0 early run that turned a 5-4 lead into a 9-4 advantage. The Bobcats 6-0 run later in the set erased a narrow deficit. Harden sparked the run with a kill and Choi followed with back-to-back service aces. The run put the Bobcats up 17-13. The two teams traded sideouts the remainder of the set, ultimately ending with two consecutive Harden kills.
The Bobcats never trailed in the second set and grabbed an early 7-2 lead. Up 12-8, Edwena Wong went behind the line and gave the Bobcats their longest serving run of the night which resulted…
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