September 27, 2009

November 7th, 2009

IRVINE, Califonia--The Lady Tritons travelled to UC Irvine this past Saturday for their first pre-season tournament. They were seeded first in their pool, coming out undefeated in pool play and tying for 3rd overall with UC Santa Barbara.

The first game of the morning was played against UC Irvine. The ladies dominated with several kills from Sophomore Tiffany Stone and Senior Captains Jackie Tran and Maddi Taylor. Jackie and Junior Mollie McIntyre also put up a great block against the opponent’s outside hitters. Sophomore Athalie Tom and Freshman Miu Yamashita helped lead the defense in the back row as liberos. The Tritons defeated Irvine in 2 games with solid scores of 25-13 and 25-17.

The next match was played against USD-B. The team played a great first game against the Toreros, winning 25-15 with several kills from Sophomore Keely Anderson and Jackie Tran. However, USD came back in the second game, winning 25-16 as the Tritons had difficulty picking up the short tips. The third game started off rough with the Toreros leading 6-0. After a time out, the Tritons pulled it together with Miu Yamashita and Athalie Tom coordinating together on the back row defense to give setter, Sophomore Erica Baba, a chance to set several plays that allowed to Tritons come back and win 15-10.

The last match in pool play was against CSU San Marcos. Maddi Taylor had several blocks against the Cougars’ offense and Tiffany Stone and Jackie Tran helped with several kills. The Tritons beat the Cougars 25-15 and 25-9.

After pool play, the team went straight into playoffs which was formatted single elimination, one game to 30 points. The team faced San Marcos again for their first playoff game. San Marcos’ offense was much stronger this game, but the Tritons were able to defeat them in the end. The ladies then proceeded to the semi-finals against Arizona State University. This game was very close with each team’s offense equally strong. Arizona eventually took the lead in the last couple points, defeating the Tritons 30-27.