Sept. 9, 2006

Box Score

LAS VEGAS, Nev. - In the first meeting between the two schools, Xavier was defeated by UC-Santa Barbara in three games. The Musketeers were downed by UCSB by scores of 30-24, 32-30 and 30-20 in their second game of the UNLV Invitational. XU now stands at 3-6 on the season and is in the midst of a five game skid, while the Gauchos improve to 2-3 overall.

After knotting the score at 3-3 in game one, Xavier would allow UCSB two key runs that the Musketeers could not overcome. A 5-0 run and a 6-0 run would give XU a deficit it would not be able to hurdle as the lead would reach 17-8 in favor of the Gauchos. With the lead at 12, Xavier would mount a 10-1 run of its own to cut the margin to only three at 26-23 but did not have enough in the end to earn the win. Junior Jenni Horvath led the way with four kills, while freshman Lauren Kaminsky, who keyed the XU 10-1 run with two aces and a solo block, finished with five digs in the first game.

The second game would follow the same pattern as the first with XU falling behind early and then mounting a comeback effort that would come up just short. UCSB would post an 11-2 run and take the lead at 16-8 before another 5-1 spurt stretched the lead to 23-14. The Blue and White would come to life and mount a 12-2 run to get back into the game and knot the score at 26-26. After a flurry of five ties and four lead changes, XU would wind up on the short end of the scoreboard and fell 32-30.

Overpasses would haunt XU in the third and final game as UC-Santa Barbara would post a .351 hitting percentage in the frame powered by 18 kills on 37 swings. An 11-3 run would push the Gaucho lead to 10 at 15-5 but the Musketeers would continue to fight. XU could only close the gap to five, 18-13, before UCSB put the game and match out of reach with a 6-0 run.

Freshman Kelly Ruth and junior Jill Quayle each finished with a team-high nine kills to lead the Musketeers on the afternoon. On the defensive side, sophomore Vanessa Romano notched a career-high 11 digs on the match, with Kaminsky ending with a team-high 13 digs and seven kills.

As a team Xavier was held to a .149 hitting percentage and were outdone in kills 50-39 but recorded more blocks in the match at 10-7.5.

The Musketeers will return to the court this evening as XU will take on host UNLV at 10:00 pm EST. This will be the first meeting for Xavier against UNLV. XU is now 1-5 against opponents on a neutral court.