SAN FRANCISCO – Bolstered by Sarah Lewis' career-high 15 kills, the San Francisco State women's volleyball team knocked off Humboldt State in three sets Friday (25-13, 25-20, 29-27) in a California Collegiate Athletic Association match at the Main Gymnasium.
Lewis finished with a season-best .591 hitting percentage on the evening, committing just two errors in 22 attempts as the Gators posted their third sweep of the season, improving to 13-11 overall and 10-9 in conference play. SF State also received double-digit kills from Halimah Oswald (12, .409 attack pct.) and Robyn Hall (10), while Iris Tolenada and Sarah Kurfess contributed match highs of 40 assists and 23 digs, respectively.
The Lumberjacks (1-22, 1-18 CCAA) were paced by Oceana Matsubu's seven kills, while Joliann Arzadon and Brooke Ferguson notched 23 assists and 10 digs, respectively, in the loss.
The Gators knocked down almost twice as many kills as their guests (52-27), outhitting HSU by a .258-.139 margin while maintaining a 62-46 advantage in digs. Despite trailing in blocks 6-1, SF State also launched six aces and benefited from seven Lumberjack serving errors.
The Gators got off to a productive start offensively in the opening set, hitting at a .400 clip on 15 kills in 30 swings with three errors. With the score knotted at 7-7, the Purple and Gold reeled off five straights points on two kills apiece by Hall and Lewis and a Jackie Domecus service ace to take the lead for good at 12-7. SF State was never threatened the rest of the way, building a trio of 11-point leads, until a Lumberjack attack error provided the final tally.
The Gators led throughout most of the second stanza, save for a 1-1 tie, as a kill by Hall gave the host a school a comfortable 14-7 advantage. Moments later, SF State gained set point at 24-15 following a Megan Larmour kill. However, HSU would not go quietly as it scraped together five straight points, taking advantage of a bad set and two Gator attack errors to go along with a combined block by Toni Kroeker and Channel Washington. SF State quickly recovered from its sluggish sequence to take a 2-0 set lead into the locker room, courtesy of an additional Larmour kill.
The Gators came out firing on all cylinders in the third frame, staking a series of 10-point leads, including a 19-9 spread following a kill by Lauren Walsh. With the SF State faithful anticipating a knock-out punch, it was the Gators who soon discovered the Lumberjacks had some fight left in them as a Ferguson ace and a Washington kill punctuated a 14-4 blitz that tied the score at 23-23.
A frenzied sequence soon followed as SF State had three chances to close out the match but came up empty on each try as an Allison Drobisch solo block knotted things up once again at 27-27. However, the Gators finally vanquished their adversary after a Lumberjack serve went awry, while Hall's last kill of the night shortly thereafter sealed the victory.
SF State returns to the court tomorrow, Nov. 6, when it tackles Sonoma State in the Main Gymnasium starting at 7 p.m. The Seawolves (15-8, 12-7 CCAA) were triumphant over Cal State Monterey Bay in three sets as well on Friday in Seaside, Calif.
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