BOX SCORE #15 Sonoma State 3, #10 Western Washington 0 (25-19, 25-18, 25-16) -- Box Score
West Region Tournament Central
SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. -- Madelyn Densberger recorded a double-double with 11 kills and 12 digs, adding two blocks as the No. 4 seed Sonoma State volleyball team cruised to a three-set victory over No. 5 seed Western Washington in the opening round of the 2013 NCAA Division II Volleyball West Region Tournament on Thursday evening at The Den in San Bernardino.
The Seawolves (26-5), ranked 15th in the nation, earned just their third victory all-time in the NCAA tournament as the Vikings, the 10th-ranked team in Division II, end their season at 23-4.
"In most of our matches, three of the six (players on the court) stand out, and tonight, all six were getting it done," said SSU head volleyball coach
Bear Grassl. "Our serve-receive was on point tonight, and overall, we played very, very hard."
"All-in-all, it was a good win for us," Grassl added.
Densberger was the most efficient player on offense for Sonoma State, hammering 11 kills in 22 attacks with three errors, a .364 hitting percentage. The Seawolves hit .238 as a team, and while that is lower than their season average of .276 going into the match, they held the Vikings, who sports the nation's seventh-most and the region's third-most efficient offense, to just .065, a season-low for WWU. The SSU defense was led by the 21 digs of
Nicole Gragnola and the six blocks of
Rachel Andrews.
Caylie Seitz had another dominant match on the offensive side of the net, leading all players with 13 kills in 35 attacks and three errors, a .286 clip.
Regan Richert chipped in with 10 kills herself and hit .259 with three errors in 27 swings.
While SSU cruised to a pair of wins in the first two sets, the third set got off to a see-saw start as both teams went point for point. However, with a 10-8 Viking lead, the Seawolves reeled off a 13-2 run to take a commanding 21-12 lead before they finished off the match victory eight points later.
Western Washington's Samantha Hutchinson, who entered the match ranked No. 2 nationally in digs per set (6.9), tied for match-high honors with Gragnola with 21 digs. Emily Boerger had six blocks and seven kills. Kayla Erickson led the Vikings with eight kills. Kelsey Moore had seven kills and five blocks and Emily Cotter contributed 15 digs.
Two of the four WWU losses this season came at the mercy of SSU; the other coming in a four-set defeat at the Seawolf Spike in Rohnert Park.
Sonoma State awaits the winner of the first-round match up between top-seed Cal State San Bernardino and No. 8-seed Central Washington on Friday at 7:30 pm. The match between the Coyotes and Wildcats is currently in progress (
click here for live stats).
In earlier action, No. 3-seed UC San Diego defeated No. 6-seed Dixie State, 3-1, and No. 2-seed BYU-Hawaii knocked off No. 7-seed Alaska Anchorage, 3-0.
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NCAA Division II Volleyball Championship
West Region Tournament
San Bernardino, CA -- Dec. 5-7, 2013
First Round -- Thursday, Dec. 5
#3 UC San Diego def. #6 Dixie State, 3-1
#2 BYU-Hawaii def. #7 Alaska Anchorage, 3-0
#4 Sonoma State def. #5 Western Washington, 3-0
7:30 pm – #1 Cal State San Bernardino (25-5) vs. #8 Central Washington (15-11)
Regional Semifinals -- Friday, Dec. 6
5:00 pm – #3 UC San Diego vs. #2 BYU-Hawaii
7:30 pm – #4 Sonoma State vs. CSUSB/CWU winner
West Region Championship -- Saturday, Dec. 7
7:00 pm