BELLINGHAM, Wash. – The Sonoma State volleyball team returned to the court for the first time 651 days on Friday for their season opening matches against MSU Denver and Western Washington.  The Seawolves fell in both contests, 3-0 and 3-1 respectively but will look to rebound on Saturday with another set of matches at the WWU Invitational.
 
Sonoma opened the tournament with a tough matchup against nationally ranked No. 11 MSU Denver.  The Roadrunners took the match 25-21, 25-19 and 25-17 despite only holding a 37-30 kill advantage. 
 
The opening set was back and forth from the start with MSU Denver breaking a 10-10 tie to jump out to a 20-16 advantage.  The Seawolves answered back with four straight points spurred by kills from Jessie Hobbs and Emily Eaton to tie the set at 20-20.  However, the Roadrunners responded with five of the next six points to close out the first set. 
 
The second set went the way MSU Denver with the help of a 9-1 run in the middle of the game to put it out of reach.  Sonoma State opened the third set with a 7-1 spurt thanks kills from Kiana Richardson, Leilani Hallman and Amy Trephan.  With the Seawolves leading 10-4, it was all Roadrunners from there as they ripped off six straight points to tie the game and went onto a 25-17 victory. 
 
Eaton led the Seawolves with 10 kills while Jill Trephan added 17 assists.  Riley Beyma tacked on 10 digs to lead Sonoma State. 
 
In the nightcap, Sonoma battled host Western Washington in a four set bout but fell 24-26, 25-23, 18-25 and 18-25.  The Seawolves held a 48-39 kill advantage for the match but committed 38 attacking errors to only 17 from the Vikings. 
 
The first set featured several lead changes with Sonoma taking an 18-13 lead after an ace from Bryanna Slayton.  WWU answered with a run of their own and used four straight points to take a 22-21 lead.  Richardson and Jaden Krist responded with kills as the Seawolves moved to set-point leading 24-22.  The Vikings however would not go down without a fight, finished the set with a four point run to win 26-22.
 
Sonoma came out on fire in the second set, winning the first five points and taking a 10-2 lead.  The Seawolves would control the set wire-to-wire despite the Vikings fighting back to within one several times.  Richardson would dial up the final kill with the score 24-23 to even the match at 1-1. 
 
The third and fourth sets both went to the hosts as the Vikings led nearly the entire way in the third and overcame an early deficit in the fourth to take both 25-18. 
 
Richardson finished with a match high 17 kills with Eaton adding double digits once again with ten.  Jen Trephan recorded a match high 22 digs and tacked on 18 assists.  Slayton pitched in with a team best 22 assists. 
 
The Seawolves are back in action on Saturday for the second day of the tournament as they take on Central Washington (12:30 pm) and Chaminade (5:00 pm)