SAN FRANCISCO - Playing its third nationally ranked opponent in four outings, the San Francisco State women's volleyball team ran into another buzzsaw on Saturday, falling to No. 18 UC San Diego in three sets (25-17, 26-24, 25-17) at the Main Gymnasium.  The defeat drops the Gators to 7-5 on the season and 1-3 in the CCAA, while the Tritons improve to 9-2 overall and 3-1 in league play.   

“We had a tough time tonight passing the ball and our offense never really got into a rhythm,” said SF State head coach Michelle Patton.  UCSD put constant pressure on us and we didn't respond.”

SF State hit just .133 on the evening, including a .059 clip in the opening set, compared to the Tritons' .275 percentage.  The Gators were also victimized by 10 UCSD serving aces.

Despite such woes, SF State was in position to steal the second set, overcoming an early 12-6 deficit to forge a 23-20 lead.  Any notion of a Gator comeback was soon dashed, however, after the Tritons went on a 6-1 run to close the frame.  In the third set, UCSD was able to maintain a safe distance from SF State throughout, limiting the Gators to a .103 hitting percentage to help secure the victory.

 Individually, freshman Lisa Morgan (La Quinta, Calif.) led the SFSU offense by hitting .462 for the match with six kills and no errors in 13 attempts.   Freshmen setters Anne Heggli (Cool, Calif.) and Mary Maiocco (Bakersfield, Calif.) had 16 and 10 assists, respectively, while fellow classmate Christina Johnson recorded  16 digs. The Tritons' Rebecca Bailey posted a match-high 12 kills, hitting at a .458 pace with one error.

The Gators hit the road for their next match when they square off against Sonoma State on Friday, Sept. 26, beginning at 7 p.m.

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