CHICO, Calif. -- After a thrilling first set that saw the Sonoma State volleyball team escape with a 32-30 win, the first-place Seawolves cruised to two more set wins to sweep aside host Chico State (32-30, 25-16, 25-12) on Friday night at Acker Gym in Chico to clinch at least a share of the CCAA title.
Should Sonoma State (19-6 overall, 17-4 CCAA) defeat Cal State Stanislaus on their home floor Saturday, SSU will end Cal State San Bernardino's eight-year reign as CCAA champions and be the first women's team at SSU to win a CCAA regular season championship since the school entered the CCAA back in 1998. Chico State dropped to 12-13 on the season with Friday's loss, and 10-11 in CCAA play.
Sonoma State went up early in the marathon first set, building a 13-9 lead, but the Wildcats put together an impressive 12-5 run to go up 21-18. The Seawolves came back to tie the contest at 22-all, and the score was still knotted at 24 apiece when Lindsay Quigley delivered the kill that gave the Wildcats the chance to pull out the win. Sonoma survived two straight set points, with Chico State returning the favor to push the score to 28-apiece. The 'Cats had two straight opportunities to win the set, only to see the Seawolves respond with set-tying points each time. With the score tied at 30-all, back-to-back Wildcat errors gave Sonoma the hard-fought 32-30 victory.
The Seawolves carried the momentum over to the second set, slowly mounting a 16-10 advantage. A couple of kills helped Chico State pull to within 17-13, but that would be as close as the Wildcats would get, as Sonoma notched eight of next 11 points – including the final four – to roll to a 25-16 victory.
The Wildcats' offense could not get untracked early in the third and final set, with a pair of Sonoma service errors providing Chico State with its only points as the Seawolves grabbed a sizeable 11-2 lead. It was an uphill battle the rest of the way for the 'Cats, and Sonoma wasn't about to see its huge advantage slip away. The Wildcats cut the deficit to 14-7, but the Seawolves responded with by five unanswered points to go up 19-7, then wrapped things up with a 5-1 run to post a 25-12 win to put the finishing touches on the match sweep.
Caylie Seitz led the way offensively with 16 kills and a .359 hitting percentage.
Madelyn Densberger recorded 13 kills without an error in 28 tries for a .464 average.
Kelsey Hull added 12 kills and 19 digs.
Kaitlyn Connolly had a big night defensively with 23 digs.
Rachel Andrews was a big presence at the net, rejecting six attacks.
Calan Seitz had a match-high 33 assists.
For Chico State, Quigley and Olivia Mediano each had 10 kills to lead the Chico State offense, with Shannon Boling contributing eight kills and seven digs. Torey Thompson dished out 32 assists and added 15 digs, while Emily Duran recorded a match-high 25 digs on the night.
Sonoma State goes for the CCAA championship Saturday night at Cal State Stanislaus. First serve is at 7:00 pm.
