University of California, Merced – Three Bobcats Garner Postseason Recognition

MERCED, Calif. – Olivia Harden earned All-California Pacific Conference Second Team honors, while Lexus Lagumbay and Edwena Wong were named honorable mentions as voted on by the conference coaches.

The Bobcats have had at least three All-Cal Pac selections all eleven years of the program’s existence. 

Harden earns All-Cal Pac Second Team honors for the second consecutive season after finishing fifth in the Cal Pac with a career-high 3.3 kills per set. Harden accomplished that feat while recording a career-high .216 hitting percentage which was the second highest on the team with a minimum of 200 attempts. Harden had two significant stretches throughout the campaign, the first one being from September 30-October 2 where she became just the second player in program history to tally at least 17 kills in three consecutive matches. She followed those three games up with back-to-back 13-kill, error free performances. Soon after, she got back in the double figure kill column and ended the regular season on a career-best six-match double figure kill streak. The Exeter, Calif., native and senior also notched 36 digs, five solo blocks and a service ace. Her five solo blocks led all non-middle blockers. Harden finished with 20 blocks overall.

Lagumbay, one of the top six-rotation players in the Cal Pac, finished second in the conference with 0.6 service aces per set and ranked inside the top-15 with 2.9 digs and 2.3 kills en route to her first career postseason honor. Her aces mark was also the 15th highest in the nation and the best ever in program history. The previous mark was 0.5 set by McKenzie Willett. Lagumbay finished the campaign as the only player in the Cal Pac this year to average at least 2.5 digs, two kills and 0.5 service aces per set. She had five matches with both double figure kills and multiple service aces. She also had a pair of noteworthy streaks on the year, including recording a service ace in a career-best nine straight matches from September 21-October 22. During that same stretch, the Foster City, Calif., senior had a career-best four match double figure dig streak (Oct. 2-Oct. 21).

Wong earns her first career postseason honor after earning the role as the Bobcats starting libero throughout the entire season. Wong played in a team-high 95% of the Bobcats sets on the year and finished with 301 digs, 3.5 per set which was good for sixth in the Cal Pac. She strung together nine consecutive double figure…