BOX SCORE: #24 Sonoma State 3, Cal State Monterey Bay 0

ROHNERT PARK, Calif- Keala Peterson and Ally Sather combined for 35 of Sonoma State 's 58 kills, helping the Seawolves to blaze past Cal State Monterey Bay in straight sets (25-17, 25-22, 25-17) on Saturday night in The Wolves' Den. SSU (18-3, 15-1 CCAA) has won 17 of its last 18 matches and remains just one-half game behind undefeated Cal State San Bernardino. The Otters fall to 7-11 and 4-11 in conference play.

The Seawolves are off to their best 21-match start in school history (Sonoma went 17-4 to start the 2008 season), due in part by the play of Peterson and Sather, who have combined for 2,007 kills in two-plus seasons. Sather eclipsed the 1,000-kill mark earlier this season and has 1,038 while Peterson is just 31 shy of the one-thousand mark at 969.

On Saturday, it was Peterson that led all hitters with 18 kills, erring just once in 30 swings for a career-high .567 hitting percentage. Sather was almost just as efficient, slamming 17 of her 30 attacks to the floor with three miscues. As a team, the Seawolves hit .409, breaking the .400 mark for the second straight match and for the fifth time this season.

Kelsey Hull chipped in with eight kills while Brooke Moore and Regan Richert added seven apiece. Hayley Ross recorded 46 assists to lead all players and Lindsay Lytle made a match-high 12 digs. Taylor Krenwinkel and Peterson added 10.

Despite the hot hand, Sonoma State couldn't pull away from a feisty Cal State Monterey Bay team for most of the night, enduring 14 ties and five lead changes. Three of the lead changes came in the opening set, even though the Seawolves hit .422 as a team and holding the Otters to .244. After a couple of back-and-forth rallies and the three lead changes, Sonoma State finally grabbed its largest lead of the set at 15-11. CSUMB would crawl to within two at 16-14 before SSU went on a 9-3 run to win the opening set, 25-17.

In the middle frame, the Otters pulled out to a narrow 4-3 lead early, but the Seawolves scored four straight points, inducing a CSUMB timeout. From the remainder of the set, SSU never led by more than four points, but eventually held off the visitors for the 25-22 win and the 2-0 match lead.

It was much of the same story in the third set. Cal State Monterey Bay trailed by just two points late (19-17), but Sonoma State put the match away, reeling off six unanswered points to win 25-17 and clinch the 3-0 match victory.

Cal State Monterey Bay was led offensively by Rachel Freeno, who had nine kills. Lauren Shacklock chipped in with eight and both Melanie Lashbrook and Erin Stoddard had six apiece.

Sonoma State will now hit the road to southern California for its next four matches, before returning home on Nov. 11-12 for the final weekend series of the regular season. The Seawolves will face Cal State L.A. (Friday) and Cal State Dominguez Hills (Saturday) before taking on two nationally-ranked opponents in UC San Diego (Nov. 4) and Cal State San Bernardino (Nov. 5). With six total matches left, Sonoma State will look to grab another spot in the NCAA Division II Volleyball Tournament for the fourth straight year.