ROHNERT PARK, Calif. – The Sonoma State volleyball team was able to overcome a first set loss to take down the Fresno Pacific Sunbirds 3-1 in the first of two matches for the Seawolves on Friday.  After losing the first set 25-19, the Seawolves rebounded and controlled the rest of the sets with relative ease winning them 25-23, 25-18, and 25-17.  The Seawolves were able to beat their previous kill record this season with 53 against the Sunbirds, one more than their previous high, 52 which came against Regis University on August 27. 
FPU, playing its first game of the season under new head coach Mike MacNeil, completely dominated the first set winning 25-19.  FPU would play a clean first set only making five errors to the Seawolves ten.  

The rest of the match would be all Sonoma who cleaned up their play from the first set. Brynna Slayton provided a much needed boost from the service line and led the match with four aces and 23 assists. Three other Seawolves were in double digits for kills including Kiana Richardson (12), Jen Trephan (12), and Jaden Krist (11).  Sonoma controlled every facet of the game against the Sunbirds following the first set. They outscored FPU 74-49, recorded 22 more kills and had eight aces to only four from the visitors. 

Sonoma won a tightly contested second set 25-23 with the help of Trephan who had the game tying kill to make it 22-22, and also added a block at the end to help put away the Sunbirds. Krist, and Richardson also added points at the end en route to victory.
In the third set it looked like it was going to be all Seawolves when they took the lead 16-8 before FPU was able to string together a run of their own and score seven straight points.  After trading service errors, Sonoma would make a run of their own, scoring five straight and eight of the last ten to win convincingly, 25-18.

The fourth set was a similar story to the third, the Seawolves got off to a hot start leading 10-4 before they would let the Sunbirds back in the fight.  FPU rallied back to make it 13-9 before Sonoma rattled off eight straight points to take a dominant 21-9 lead that they would not give up.  Jessie Hobbs pummeled the final kill of the match to defeat the Sunbirds.  Leilani Hallman led the match in blocks with eight, and Hobbs had a season high, three aces of her own along with six kills. 

Sonoma continues the Seawolf Classic in the Wolves Den with Academy of Art on Friday at 7:30 p.m. and Dominican University on Saturday at 7:30 p.m.