COSTA MESA -- A career night for Meadow Hobbs on offense and defense sparked Vanguard women's volleyball to a 3-1 victory over Dominican University of California Wednesday night inside the Freed Center. The Lions took the first two sets 26-24 and 25-18 before the Penguins spoiled the attempt at a sweep by winning the third 25-19. VU refocused in the fourth and completed the victory with a 25-21 decision to improve to 7-15 overall and 5-10 in Pacific West Conference games, while DUC dropped to 4-19, 1-14.
Hobbs was the match leader in kills (19) and digs (24), as her second double-double in a row surpassed her previous highs of 17 and 19, respectively. She also fired away at a .485 hitting percentage on the night, another high for the year that beat her previous mark of .435. The Blue and Gold got 12 kills from Kayla Robinson, 11 from Abigayle Gotwals, and 13 from Haylee Long, while the team hit .247 on the night.
"Tonight was a competitive match, with a lot of long rallies and trading points," said Head Coach Jennifer Dorn. "It was nice to see us finish a tight first set and then find our stride in set two. Dominican did an incredible job in set three by putting the pressure back on us by serving tough and having tenacious defense. We fought back well, but we put ourselves in too much of a deficit to start. I'm proud of set four after competing against some incredible defense, as we made some adjustments with our outside hitters that put us back in the matchups we needed. Huge match for Meadow!"
What Happened? While the Lions did not cruise to an easy win in set one, the squad fired away at a .286 clip and had a match-high 19 kills in the period. A 4-0 run after DUC recorded the first point gave the Blue and Gold the lead, and they would not relinquish it. That said, the Penguins, down 17-11, had a 6-2 stretch followed by a 4-2 burst to trim the gap to 24-22. Back-to-back miscues by VU tied things at 24-all, but Gotwals and Hobbs saved the stanza by ripping kills for Vanguard to complete a set-one win 26-24.
The second period was Vanguard's best, as the lineup hit .441 and had only three mistakes. Though the Penguins scored first, VU had Hobbs and Robinson land consecutive kills before an ace from Kayla Henninger put the Lions ahead 3-1. The battle resumed in earnest after that; as though VU never gave up the advantage, the Penguins found responses to stay within two points of the home side. That all changed in the later stages, though, as DUC scored its final points to make the score 19-18 in favor of Vanguard. The Blue and Gold then fired off the final six points, highlight by a VU triple block and kills from Long and Robinson.
Despite that, the Penguins controlled set three from the outset, as the visitors sprang away on the back of a 9-1 run. It seemed that the Lions would fall quickly, but the lineup invested in a valiant effort to flip the deficit into a sweep. Down 15-6, the Lions put up eight unanswered points to bring the gap down to 15-14. Hobbs and Long each had two kills during the blitz, while Macy Kavanaugh tallied an ace. But was as close as VU got, as the Penguins parried the strike and went on to win 25-19.
Hobbs and Henninger put the Blue and Gold ahead 3-1 in the fourth, but unlike the first two periods, DUC used a 5-1 stretch to snare a 10-8 lead. The Penguins led 13-11 a few rallies later, but the Blue and Gold vaulted ahead via a 4-0 streak, with Henninger and Gotwals registering kills and Hobbs dealing an ace. A few rallies later, Dominican had their own 4-0 run to climb back into a lead (18-17), but that turned out to be the final time the Penguins led for the night. Robinson landed a strike to tie the match, and the Lions put down a 6-1 run after that to take a 24-19 edge. DUC scored the next two, but a setter dump by Julia Ringenberg cinched the match for VU. The Lions hit .220 in the final set and held DUC to a .150 rate in the third and a .189 mark in the fourth.
The Lions won all of the team metrics besides total blocks, which DUC claimed 8-5. Robinson and Long led VU with three block assists, Kavanaugh had 26 helpers, and Ringenberg distributed 19 assists. Behind Hobbs in the dig department were Gotwals (16), Kavanaugh (11), and Ringenberg (10).
What's Next? The Jessup Warriors come to VU on Friday for a 6:00 p.m. game, which features the Senior Day Ceremony right before the match begins.
