Women’s Volleyball – Fri, Oct. 29, 2021
MERCED, Calif. – The University of California, Merced women’s volleyball team set a pair of program single-match records and tied another best in a doubleheader sweep over Pacific Union College on Thursday night inside the Joseph Edward Gallo Gymnasium.
The Bobcats (9-14, 9-5) won the first match by set scores of 25-5, 25-7, 25-7, while winning the second match 3-0 by set scores of 25-3, 25-9, 25-14.
Both single-match records came in the doubleheader opener as head coach Ai Prachumsri‘s team recorded a .500 hitting percentage and tallied 20 service aces. In the second match, the Bobcats 25-3 victory tied the largest winning margin of all-time originally set back on September 6, 2013 against Multnomah University.
A program individual single-match record was also broken in the first match with Serena Choi‘s nine service aces. Choi broke the longest standing record in school history, which was previously eight service aces by Valeria Martinez on October 21, 2011.
Aside from Choi, Lexus Lagumbay (5), Edwena Wong (4) and Haley Branley (2) combined to get the Bobcats to the 20 total service aces mark. Wong and Branley’s outputs were career-high’s. Lagumbay has at least five service aces in two matches this year.
Choi was also good for 20 assists, three kills and a block in the first match while combining with Bianca Malaluan to run the offense to the all-time best .500 success rate. Malaluan had seven assists.
The Bobcats .500 hitting percentage consisted of 33 kills and just six errors on 54 attempts. Olivia Harden led the Bobcats with ten kills. Valentina Evans had five, Lagumbay and Lacey Gallagher had four each and five other Bobcats recorded at least one kill. Harden was the lone Bobcat with double figure attempts.
Lagumbay’s offensive efforts saw her pass Kuuipolani Braceros for eighth in program history with 350 career kills. She also passed Genesis Hester for seventh all-time with 313 sets played.
Other individual notables from the first match include eight digs from Wong and a solo block each from Lagumbay and Evans.
The Bobcats limited Pacific Union College to a -.244 hitting percentage and allowed just six total kills.
During each frame, the Bobcats had at least one stretch where they scored eleven straight points. The Bobcats biggest run was 12-0 while Choi was behind the service line in the opening set.
In match two, the Bobcats utilized a 2021 team single-match high of 38 assists from Jaide Davis to cruise to…
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