Lindsey Ruddins and Chanel Hoffman paced UC Santa Barbara women’s volleyball team to an upset of No. 25 Colorado State at the Thunderdome Classic on Saturday. The Gauchos won in three sets, 25-22, 25-23, 25-20.
Hoffman put down 16 kills and Ruddins added 12, and the pair combined for 67 attempts.
“Me and Chanel have a great connection on and off the court,” Ruddins said. “And we always help each other out during the games and you definitely saw that today.”
UCSB coach Nicole Lantagne Welch lauded the play of her go-to players.
“Today we were more obvious who we were going to,” she said. “It wasn’t always pretty, but we fought through some stuff and those two were big time for us. They were getting everything and the kitchen sink sent at them and they were still able to deliver for us.”
That was never more evident than in the third game when the Gauchos closed out the sweep in the third set after withstanding a late CSU rally. With UCSB on top 21-19 and the Rams firing off two-straight points, Ruddins put their rally to an end with a thundering kill down the heart of the court. That play put the momentum back in the Gauchos’ hands and they never looked back, as Ruddins and Hoffman ended the match with back-to-back kills.
“I feel really good about how we just kept fighting,” Welch said. “It was a really hard-fought victory and we had to stay patient and calm to find our opportunities, and I thought we did a very mature job of that for being such a young group.”
The Gaucho also impressed in stifling Colorado State’s offense to just a .162 clip. Emilia Petrachi found herself in a familiar place in leading UCSB with 13 digs, while Hannah Juley was right behind her with 11. Adding to their defensive stats, the Gauchos were brutes at the net in out-blocking the Rams 11 to 7.5. Starting middles Phoebe Grunt and Elizabeth Sheffield paced the team with four blocks each.