CHICO, Calif. – The Sonoma State volleyball team closed out the week with their second straight win, holding off Chico State with a five-set victory. The Seawolves improved to 9-6 in CCAA play and moved up to 5
th place with three matches left to play.
SSU took an early advantage with a 25-19 first set win. The Seawolves found themselves down 13-12 at the halfway point before ripping off a 10-2 run to put the set out of reach.
Emily Eaton recorded two aces and
Brynna Slayton added another during the run. Eaton would later end the set with a kill to give Sonoma a 1-0 lead.
Chico State responded in the second set with a 25-19 win of their own to even the match. The Seawolves regrouped in the third and used a big run to overcome a late deficit. The two teams traded several leads in the set with Chico taking a 18-17 advantage. Sonoma flipped the set from there winning the next four points to take a 21-18 lead. After a point by the Wildcats the Seawolves tallied another four-point run to finish off the set.
Sonoma led for much of the fourth set but a late push by Chico State evened the match at 2-2 and forced a deciding fifth set. The Seawolves came out firing in the fifth set, notching five of the first six points thanks to a kill from
Jenn Trephan and an ace by Eaton. The offensive attack continued with seven of the last eight Sonoma points coming off kills. The Seawolves held the lead from wire-to-wire in the set and finished off the match with
Kiana Richardson recording the final three points on kills.
SSU held a 55-51 kill advantage for the match and registered 14 aces. Richardson led four players in double figures with 14 kills. Eaton added 13 kills while
Jessie Hobbs and
Amy Trephan tacked on 11 and 10 respectively.
Angel Gamboa and
Dylan Copeland recorded four aces apiece.
The win keeps the Seawolves 1.5 matches up on Stanislaus State in their push to make the CCAA Tournament. Sonoma State clinches a postseason berth with one win in any of their three matches next week or a loss from Stanislaus State.
