BOX SCORE San Francisco State def. #22 Sonoma State, 3-2 (25-22, 22-25, 24-26, 25-19, 15-11) -- Box Score
SAN FRANCISCO -- The Sonoma State women's volleyball team had four players with double-digit kills and four more players with double-digit digs, but its quest to take the top spot in the CCAA standings fell short as host San Francisco State rallied from a 2-1 match deficit to defeat the 22nd-ranked Seawolves on Wednesday night at The Swamp in San Francisco.
With their victory, the Gators (11-3, 6-1 CCAA) move into first place in the conference by a half game over UC San Diego and Cal State San Bernardino. Sonoma State falls back to fourth place with marks of 5-2 in the CCAA and 11-4 overall.
Three players --
Kelsey Hull (18 kills, 11 digs),
Madelyn Densberger (13 kills, 14 digs) and
Hayley Ross (24 assists, 14 digs) -- all recorded double-doubles for SSU. Hull hit at a blazing .438 clip (18k-4e-32a) while Densberger also had a hot hand with 13 kills and no hitting errors in 30 swings for a .433 percentage.
Caylie Seitz (12 kills) and
Ally Sather (10 kills) also had 10 or more kills for the Seawolves, who hit .234 as a team (62k-22e-171a).
Nicole Gragnola led all players with 23 digs on defense.
Both teams came out on fire offensively, both hitting at identical .444 hitting percentages, but San Francisco State held the advantage in kills at 19-15 and was able to outlast Sonoma State, which came into the match as the fourth-best team in the nation with 14.75 kills per set, for the narrow 25-23 win to take an early match lead.
The defense started to shine on both sides of the net from that point on, but the Seawolves would grab onto the momentum and take emotional 25-23 and 26-24 wins to lead the match, 2-1. The Gators responded with a convincing 25-19 win in the fourth frame to force a deciding fifth set. SFSU would go up 12-7, putting SSU on the ropes, but the Seawolves responded with a 4-1 run to come within two at 13-11. However, an attack error and a kill by the Gators' Megan Johnson put the match away with the clinching 15-11 win in set number five.
Kelly Ostello (22) and Meagan Wright (20) combined for 42 of San Francisco State's 71 kills in the match, while Johnson added 13. Iris Tolenada handed out 58 assists and Jessica Nicerio recorded 20 digs.
Wednesday's match ended a five-game road trip for SSU, but the schedule only gets tougher as the Seawolves began the week tied atop the standings with three other teams (SFSU, UCSD and CSUSB), all of which they face in a four-day span. UC San Diego (10-4, 5-1 CCAA) will come into Rohnert Park on Friday, placing another tough test on Sonoma State. First serve between the Seawolves and Tritons is set for 7:00 p.m. Then, not even 24 hours later, Cal State San Bernardino (8-6, 5-1 CCAA) visits The Wolves' Den for a matinee (2:00 p.m. start time); the Seawolves will be looking to snap a 30-match losing streak against the Coyotes, the defending west region champions, who swept SSU in the regional final a year ago.
