UCSD Women Win 3rd Title in 3 Years

LA JOLLA — UC San Diego’s surprising season came to an even more surprising ending Saturday as the Tritons rallied for a 14-16, 15-6, 6-15, 15-10, 15-2 victory over Illinois-Benedictine to win their third consecutive NCAA Division III volleyball title.

Setter Linda Ross came into the match to stay with the Tritons down, 2 games to 1, and trailing, 8-6, in Game 4. Ross, a junior, replaced Laurie Bertanyi, who was a first-team All-American this season.

“I thought Laurie was getting tired,” UCSD Coach Doug Dannevik said. “We were out of sync for an hour and a half. We had to put in our quick lineup because we weren’t passing well.”

The offense picked up its tempo when Ross entered the match for good after playing at the end of Game 3.

“We had a couple of good plays right away, and that changed things,” Ross said.

The Tritons rallied by scoring 6 consecutive points for a 12-8 lead. IBC cut the margin to 12-10, but UCSD got the side out and scored three in a row, tying the match, 2-2, on a slap dump shot by Ellen Chi.

The Tritons continued their roll in the final game, taking a 5-1 lead and then scoring 7 consecutive points--two on service aces by Dana Simone--for a commanding, 12-1 lead.

The Tritons clinched the title on two service aces by Jennifer Wellman.

And so UCSD--a team of reserves and newcomers--hung the fifth and probably most improbable national championship banner in Triton Pavilion.

“You always dream of it,” Dannevik said. “I knew we had the potential, but a lot of things had to happen.”

After squandering an early lead, UCSD looked as if it would not become only the second team to win the national title as host.

Just as it had done in the semifinals against Juniata, UCSD wasted a big lead in Game 1. The Tritons led, 13-6, but let IBC back in and did not score again until they trailed, 14-13. IBC then scored on a UCSD hitting error and put the game away on a service ace by Tracy Beatty.

Jackie Robert had a tournament record 40 digs to lead Juniata over Wisconsin-Whitewater, 15-13, 12-15, 5-15, 15-8, 18-16 in a 2-hour 45-minute match for third place. Melinda Selby had 27 kills for Juniata (43-7), and Kathy Steffen led Whitewater (57-4) with 21.