ROHNERT PARK, Calif. – The Sonoma State volleyball team closed out the Seawolf Classic by splitting a pair of matches with Academy of Art and Holy Names. The Seawolves opened Saturday with a tough four-set loss to the Urban Knights before taking the nightcap with the Hawks 3-1.
Sonoma struggled to get going in the opening match as Academy of Art jumped out early with a 25-20 win in the first set. The Urban Knights finished with 19 kills in the first set. SSU responded in the second set with a 25-21 victory, using a great front row defense to force ARTU into a negative hitting percentage.
The third and fourth sets went to Academy of Art despite 13 kills in each by the Seawolves. Sonoma tallied 43 kills in the match with the Urban Knights recording 56.
Kiana Richardson led the Seawolves with nine kills while
Jessie Hobbs added eight. Jenn Trephan tacked on five kills and 25 assists.
In the nightcap, Sonoma State came out firing, taking the first set 25-16 with 13 kills as a team. The set remained close until the Seawolves closed with a 10-2 run on four kills and three blocks. Jenn Trephan recorded two of the kills and two of the blocks.
The second set was back and forth from the start with both teams using big runs. The Seawolves broke a 6-6 tie with six straight points only to have the Hawks answer with a 9-2 run to retake the lead at 16-15. The two teams traded points from there before Sonoma put the set away with a 7-1 run. Richardson ended the game with a pair of kills to go ahead 2-0.
Holy Names took a highly contested third set 25-23 to extend the match to the fourth. The Seawolves used a dominate attack in the fourth to put the match away. They would tally a match high 18 kills and hit .400. Richardson came up huge at the end of the set, breaking a 20-20 tie with a pair of kills and then adding three more to record all five of the final five Seawolves points. She finished with a team best 14 kills and just one error to hit over .400.
Jenn Trephan recorded a triple double with 10 kills, 32 assists and 17 digs while also adding four blocks.
Amy Trephan tacked on 11 kills with
Emily Eaton finishing with 10 kills and four aces.
The Seawolves open CCAA play next week with a trip down to Southern California to take on Cal State Dominguez Hills and Cal State LA.
