BOX SCORE #24 Sonoma State 3, #12 Western Washington 1 (20-25, 25-22, 25-14, 25-22) -- Box Score
ROHNERT PARK -- Fueled by the 17 kills and .429 hitting percentage off the hands of
Caylie Seitz, Sonoma State staged a furious rally after dropping the first set to come back and defeat previously-unbeaten Western Washington in four sets on Saturday afternoon at the Seawolf Spike in Rohnert Park. The Seawolves, the 24th-ranked team in the nation, improve to 3-0 on the weekend and 6-1 this season. The Vikings, which entered the tournament as the 12th-ranked team in Division II and had only lost two sets in their first seven matches of 2013, fall to 7-1.
Sonoma State will wrap up the two-day Seawolf Spike tonight at 7:00 pm when it takes on Montana State Billings (2-5). Should the Seawolves defeat the Yellowjackets, SSU will capture the Spike title outright for the second time in the seven-year history of the tournament; Sonoma also earned co-championships two other times and holds an all-time Spike record of 22-5.
For complete results and stats from this weekend's action on the SSU campus, visit the official tournament web page at
sonomaseawolves.com/spike.
In the opening set, Sonoma State gave Western Washington some resistance, but the strength of the Viking arms pushed the visitors towards the first-set win, 25-20. The back and forth match that featured 21 ties and eight lead changes, many of which came in a closely-contested second set, saw the Seawolves emerge with momentum the rest of the way. In fact, SSU trailed 18-15 in the second set, but rallied to win 25-22.
The third set was all Sonoma State as it took care of business, 25-14, to take a 2-1 match lead. The Seawolves nailed a match-high 34.2 percent of their attacks, holding the efficient Viking offense to just .122 in the frame.
In the deciding fourth set, it looked as if Western Washington would force a fifth set for much of the way, but Sonoma State, which trailed 22-19, rallied for six unanswered points to clinch the match victory, the last point coming on a block by
Kelsey Hull and
Ashley Robinson.
Seitz smacked a team-high 17 kills, while making just two errors in 35 swings,
Madelyn Densberger had 14 kills with only an error in 40 attacks and Hull, Robinson and
Regan Richert each had 10 kills apiece in the statement victory. As a team, the Seawolves hit .316, holding the Vikings to .255.
Nicole Gragnola recorded a career-high 29 digs while three others also had dig figures in double-digits.
Western Washington's Emily Boerger matched Seitz with 17 kills; she had just one miscue in 32 attempts for a .500 hitting percentage. Samantha Hutchinson led all players with 38 digs.
