BOX SCORE Sonoma State def. Cal State L.A. 3-0 (25-17, 25-11, 25-17) -- Box Score
ROHNERT PARK -- Caylie Seitz and
Madelyn Densberger combined for 22 of the team's 44 kills, and with seven kills on Friday night,
Ally Sather became the all-time kills leader in program history, amassing for 1,433 kills during her four-year career, as the Sonoma State women's volleyball team cruised to a quick 3-0 sweep of visiting Cal State L.A. The Seawolves improve to 18-7 this season and 12-5 in the CCAA, while the Golden Eagles fall to 10-13 and 8-8 in the conference.
Sather broke the 14-year-old record of 1,429, previously held by former SSU student-athlete (and current head women's volleyball coach at Cal State Stanislaus, Christina (Difani) Lore).
Meanwhile, the Seawolf offense came out swinging on Friday night, two nights after being tamed by San Francisco State. Sonoma State hit at a blazing .333 clip with 44 kills and 13 errors in just 93 attacks. Seitz smashed a match-high 12 kills, eight of which came during an unstoppable opening set -- she rocketed eight of her 12 first-set attacks past the CSULA defense without making an error. As a team, the Seawolves hit .394, the most efficient set of the night by either team, as the hosts took a 1-0 match lead with a 25-17 win.
An all-around effort in the second set allowed Sonoma State to steamroll past Cal State L.A. with a 25-11 blowout. The Seawolves held the Golden Eagles to a -.111 hitting percentage in the frame (five kills and eight errors in 27 swings). While the defense stepped up big, Densberger began to heat up, hammering a set-high five kills to the hardwood in securing a 2-0 match lead.
In the third and final frame, Sather's record-breaking 1,430th career kill would tie the set early at 1-1. Both teams would trade sideouts and would find themselves tied at 13-13 midway through. However, Sonoma State went on a 6-0 run to pull away for a 19-13 lead, inducing two Cal State L.A. timeouts. Out of the last timeout, the Golden Eagles' Marquis Mora threw a kill to the floor, cutting their deficit to five points, but the Seawolves went on to score six of the next nine points to earn the match-clinching 25-17 win.
While Seitz had 12 and Densberger had 10,
Kelsey Hull came up with eight kills of her own, followed by the seven off the hand of Sather and five from
Regan Richert. Sather,
Hayley Ross and
Nicole Gragnola each had two service aces apiece.
Defensively, Gragnola had a team-high 14 digs as Hull chipped in with 10. Collectively, the Seawolf backline allowed CSULA to hit just .053 (22k-17e-95a).
Cal State L.A. was led by eight kills from Mora, the only Golden Eagle with more than four kills in the match overall. April Reyes recorded a match-high 16 digs.
Sonoma State will wrap up the home portion of its 2012 schedule on Saturday night when it plays host to Cal State Dominguez Hills. It will also be Senior Night as four Seawolf seniors -- Sather,
Brooke Moore,
Devynne Johnson and
Sammi Bentovoja -- will be honored in a special pre-match ceremony that will begin at 7:00 p.m.