ROHNERT PARK, Calif- Behind the offense of freshman
Ally Sather and senior
Sarah Illingworth, No. 15 Sonoma State managed to pull out a come-from-behind five-set victory over a feisty Cal State L.A. team on Saturday night to remain unblemished at 10-0 on the season and a perfect 2-0 in California Collegiate Athletic Association play. The Golden Eagles fell to 5-4 overall and 1-1 in the CCAA.
The Seawolves survived a Golden Eagle run late in the first set to pull out the victory in set one, 25-23, despite a devastating injury of sophomore
Keala Peterson who had four kills in the set. Sather had a team-high six kills to lead Sonoma State with the 14 assists of senior setter
Lindsay Brown.
Cal State L.A. came roaring back in set two, hitting at a .351 percentage (15 kills, two errors, 37 attacks) to Sonoma State's .128 clip, to even the match at one with the 25-21 win.
In set three, the Golden Eagles rode their momentum and led from the start to take the advantage in the match at two sets to one (25-22) behind the arm of Kassie Faulkner who hammered in five kills to lead all players.
The Seawolves fought through 12 ties and seven lead changes in the fourth set while hitting at a .394 clip with 14 kills in 33 attacks with just one error to even the match at two sets a piece. And in set five, Sonoma State took advantage of several Cal State L.A. errors and got three kills by Sather to take the five-set victory to remain undefeated and improve on their best start ever in school history.
Sather carried the bulk of the offensive load for the Seawolves, nailing 19 kills in a season-high 55 attacks. Illingworth helped out with 10 kills with just one error in 23 attacks. Senior
Rikki Buckshnis added nine for the Seawolves and junior
Marianne Fox came off the bench to add seven kills. Brown led all players with 44 assists in the victory as sophomore
Taylor Krenwinkel had 21 digs.
Chelsea Hamilton and Zuzana Cizova combined for 32 kills and Faulkner and Gabriela Bulawczyk had 12 and 11 kils, respectively to lead Cal State L.A.
Sonoma State will take its national ranking and 10-0 record into Wednesday night's contest against Humboldt State at The Wolves' Den beginning at 7 p.m.
Box Score: #15 Sonoma State 3, Cal State L.A. 2
