SAN FRANCISCO, Calif- Despite a career-high 25 kills from freshman Ally Sather on Friday night and another 12 by junior Marianne Fox, Sonoma State's comeback attempt fell just short in a five-set thriller at San Francisco State (24-26, 26-28, 25-22, 25-15, 13-15) as the No. 13 Seawolves dropped their first match of 2009, ending an 11-match win streak to start the season.

The loss puts Sonoma State at 11-1 on the season and 3-1 in California Collegiate Athletic Association play. The Gators, meanwhile, made their case to be one of the CCAA's best this year, improving to 10-2 overall in 3-1 in the CCAA.

San Francisco jumped out to an early 7-2 count but several runs by the Seawolves kept the set within reason. After three tie scores and two lead changes, the Seawolves moved out to a 21-16 lead; however, a 10-3 run, including four kills by SFSU's Beth Perkins, put the Gators into the drivers seat after taking set one, 26-24.

In the second set, Sonoma State kept the score close but San Francisco State proved to be too much even though both teams hit at an identical .140 hitting percentage -- it was the Gators who tallied more kills (17-15) to propel them to the 2-0 match lead after a difficult 28-26 second set win.

With the help of Sather and her 11 kills in the third set alone, the Sonoma State prevailed after a back-and-forth battle (10 ties and six lead changes) to begin what would be a fierce comeback against a very talented Gator squad.

A very balanced attack helped the Seawolves to a relatively easy win in set four to even the match at two games apiece, thanks to the four kills of Sather and Fox and the addition of three kills from seniors Rikki Buckshnis and Lindsay Brown. A total of 16 Sonoma State kills, with just three errors in 38 attacks (.342) outmatched San Francisco State's .077 clip (12 kills, nine errors, 39 attacks).

The Gators came out firing in the deciding fifth set and took advantage of several Sonoma State errors late in the set to pull out the five-set win (15-13) and the match victory over the Seawolves, who are ranked 13th in this week's American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) poll.

Sather's 25 kills led all players in the match as Fox added 12 for SSU who hit at a season-low .182 on offense. Brown handed out a season-high 50 assists in the loss, moving her to within 25 assists of 3,000 for her career. Sophomore Taylor Krenwinkel had 22 digs to lead the Sonoma State defense that saw four players, including Krenwinkel, with double-digit digs. Senior Sarah Illingworth had a game-high five blocks and Brown assisted on four blocks at the net as well.

San Francisco State saw 21 kills from Perkins and 13 from Halimah Oswald. Two others, including Kyle Lamet (11) and Lauren Walsh (10) had ten or more kills. Mackenzie Pike had 23 digs for the Gators.

Sonoma State will return to action Saturday night when the Seawolves travel to Cal State Monterey Bay (5-6, 1-3 CCAA), who lost in five sets to Humboldt State at home on Friday. First serve is set for 7 p.m. at Seaside.

Box Score: San Francisco State 3, #13 Sonoma State 2