BOX SCORE: No. 24 Sonoma State 3, Cal State East Bay 0
ROHNERT PARK, Calif- Riding a match-high 16 kills from
Kelsey Hull, ten from
Keala Peterson and nine from
Ally Sather, the Sonoma State volleyball team turned in their most efficient hitting percentage in nearly a decade on their way to a 3-0 sweep of Cal State East Bay on Friday at The Wolves' Den in Rohnert Park. The 24th-ranked Seawolves rolled by scores of 25-8, 25-10, 25-16 to capture their 15th win in their last 16 matches and improve to 17-3, 14-1 CCAA. The Pioneers drop to 11-8, 6-8 CCAA.
Already well on their way to obliterating the school record for hitting percentage in a season (.282 at match's end), the Seawolves turned in a near unprecedented performance on Friday, hitting .460 (47 kills, 7 errors, 87 attempts). In fact, you'd have to go back to September 7, 2002 to find a higher mark, when the Seawolves hit .474 on their way to a 3-0 blanking of Western Oregon. Friday's mark was the second-highest since the introduction of rally scoring prior to the 2001 season. The school record of .554 was set in 1992 against Michigan Tech.
Sonoma jetted out to a 7-0 lead in the first set and never looked back, pushing the lead to 20-5 before settling on the 25-8 final. The margin was the largest of any set played this year by the Seawolves. Set two was nearly as successful for the Seawolves as they won 25-10, securing their second largest set victory in 2011.
The third saw Sonoma jump ahead 11-2 before the Pioneers got going. Though they'd hold even with Sonoma State, 14-14 the rest of the way, the damage was done and they were never a threat to get back into the set, let alone the match.
Hull, a redshirt freshman from Valley Springs, continued her revelation of a season. She had 16 kills and two errors to post a .583 hitting percentage on Friday. For the season, Hull is hitting .359, well beyond the current school record of .335 (Megan Dierker, 2004).
Sather took only 11 swings on Friday, but she made the most of them, hammering down nine kills. Peterson's 10 kills came against two errors in 24 attempts. She also added three solo blocks.
Hayley Ross led the way with 26 assists and
Nicole Gragnola was tops with 12 digs.
Katie Allen led the Pioneers with seven kills on a night her team hit just .048 (22-18-83). Lauren Vestal had 11 assists and Leslie Ray led with seven digs.
The Seawolves will try to keep their momentum going on Saturday when they host Cal State Monterey Bay. First serve is set for 7:00 pm. It's Kid's Night and all children in attendance will receive a poster of the 2011 Seawolves. In addition to the Kid's Night celebration, the Seawolves will host Dig for a Cure Night, raising awareness for breast cancer.
