BOX SCORE
SAN BERNARDINO, Calif- Despite a 2-1 match lead in the opening round of the NCAA Division II Volleyball Championship Tournament, Sonoma State couldn't hold on as Cal State L.A. came back to defeat the Seawolves in five sets (25-20, 16-25, 25-23, 20-25, 12-15) on Thursday afternoon at Coyote Gym in San Bernardino.
The loss eliminates third-seeded Sonoma State from national title contention and ends the 2009 season with a 23-8 overall record. Sixth-seeded Cal State L.A. (22-8) will move onto the second round and face the winner of UC San Diego and San Francisco State tomorrow evening.
Thanks to eight kills and a .636 hitting percentage by sophomore
Keala Peterson in the first set, the Seawolves jumped out to a huge 20-10 lead. However, Cal State L.A. made a slight run to close the gap to 24-20 but a kill by freshman
Ally Sather gave the Seawolves the 1-0 match lead. Sonoma State hit at a blazing .324 with 16 kills and just four errors in 37 attacks.
Cal State L.A. then regained its composure and came out firing in the second frame, hitting at a .385 clip with 11 kills and one error in 26 attacks. The Seawolves stayed close through out the set and came within three points at 18-15 but the Golden Eagles went on a 7-1 run to close out the second set victory at 25-16. After hitting .324 in the opening frame, Sonoma State came crashing to earth and hit an even .000 with 10 kills and 10 errors.
In the third set, the Seawolves and Golden Eagles fought through nine ties and six lead changes all the way until the end when Sonoma State finally took the 23-22 lead after a brief three-point run. Eventually, the Seawolves took the 2-1 match lead with the narrow 25-23 win after a kill by Peterson. The fourth set was much of the same but Cal State L.A. pulled away late in the frame to take the 25-20 win and knot the match at two sets apiece, forcing the deciding fifth set.
Sonoma State held close with CSULA at the beginning but a narrow 7-6 lead by the Golden Eagles turned into a four point lead. A kill by Peterson would bring the Seawolves to within two points at 13-11 but two SSU service errors gave Cal State L.A. the 15-12 deciding set win and the 3-2 match victory.
“(Cal State L.A.) is more physical than we are and we have to counter-punch with low errors," head coach
Bear Grassl said. "They forced us to play their game. At the end, we made some tough plays and they imposed their will on us. We did a good job of defending everybody but (Mary Laupepa).”
Mary Laupepa, last week's Molten/CCAA Volleyball Player of the Week, went off for 18 kills and sported a .615 hitting percentage to lead the Golden Eagles. Gabriela Bulawczuk recorded a double-double with 18 kills as well and 13 digs. Kassie Faulkner added 11 kills for CSULA, who hit .278 for the match. Stefanie Gay had a team-high 20 digs and Kaylynne de la Rosa passed out 48 assists.
For Sonoma State, Peterson led all hitters with 23 kills while Sather added 14. Senior
Rikki Buckshnis had 10 kills and a team-high .304 hitting percentage in her final game in the Sonoma State uniform. Three other Seawolves played in their final collegiate match on Thursday --
Lindsay Brown handed out a game-high 49 assists,
Sarah Illingworth had eight kills and two blocks and
Ali Walker two kills, eight digs and three blocks.
Sonoma State wraps up its second consecutive 23-8 season with Thursday's loss. Brown wraps up her outstanding four-year career with a school-record 3,619 assists, including 1,108 this season (just 33 assists short of topping her own single-season record of 1,140). Sather (442) and Peterson (401) had 400-plus kills this season, both new records in each of their respective classes. Sophomore
Taylor Krenwinkel, who had a match-high 25 assists for the Seawolves on Thursday, ended 2009 with 539 digs and a conference-leading 4.73 digs per set mark.
BOX SCORE: #19 Cal State L.A. 3, #18 Sonoma State 2
