Box Score
HAYWARD---  After being swept by the Cal State Monterey Otters last night in Seaside, it was the visiting SF State Gators rebounding with a three-set (27-25, 25-21, 25-19) win over the Cal State East Bay Pioneers this evening in a CCAA match-up between Bay Area rivals at Pioneer Gym in Hayward.  The Gators had 11 total team blocks in their win with six coming from Meagan Wright and Melissa Horton.
 
The Pioneers were coming off a five-set win over #11 Sonoma State last night and fell to 7-12 overall and 3-8 in the CCAA.
 
With the win, the Gators snapped their four-match losing streak and improved to 9-10 overall and 4-7 in the CCAA.  This also was the Gators first win over Cal State East Bay in Hayward in four tries.  They defeated the Pioneers in five sets on October 2, 2009.
 
Besides her 6 blocks, Horton also had a match high 5 service aces and 10 kills.  Wright had a .353 hitting percentage with 9 kills in 17 attempts to combine with her six blocks.  Also playing key roles in the Gator win were Jacquie Brice with 33 assists while Katie Judd had 8 kills and Kelly Ostello and Jazmine Williams each added 7 kills apiece for the victors.
 
The Pioneers were paced by the duo of Samantha Bruno and Suzy Ni Xu each with 10 kills.
 
Cal State East Bay took a 13-8 lead in the first set of this evening's match.  The hosts increased their lead to 16-8 on a Xu kill, but the Gators came back and cut the deficit to 18-16 capped by a Kelly Ostello kill.
 
The Pioneers built their lead to 22-19 on a kill by Samantha Bruno, but the Gators scored five of the next seven points to tie the match at 24-24 on a Horton service ace.  Another Horton ace gave the visitors a 25-24 lead, but Xu recorded a kill to tie the set at 25-25.
 
SF State finished off the set with kills from Wright and Ostello to win 27-25 and take a 1-0 lead in the match.
 
SF State built a 12-8 lead on a Katie Judd kill after the Pioneers had a 5-3 lead in the second set. 
 
The guests increased their lead to 17-11 keyed by kills by Jazmine Williams, Judd and Wright. 
 
The Pioneers would not go away as they cut their deficit to 20-19 on a Bruno kill, but the Gators scored the next four points capped by a Horton kill.  Xu's kill on the next serve put the score at 24-21 Gators and then Judd closed out the set with a kill off of one of Brice's assists to give the visitors the set 25-21 and give them a 2-0 lead in the match.
 
In the third set, the score was tied at 3-3 and then SF State scored the next three points on two Judd kills and a service ace by Horton. 
 
The Gators increased their lead to 14-9 and then the Pioneers called a time out. 
 
After the time out, the Pioneers cut the deficit to 14-12.  SF State came right back and scored five straight points with four of the points coming with Horton serving including two by aces by the junior as the Gators took a 19-12 lead.
 
Cal State East Bay cut the Gator lead to 22-18 on a Katie Allen kill, but SF State finished off the match scoring three of the final four points with two of them coming off of kills by Judd and Horton.  SF State won the set 25-19 and the match 3-0.
 
SF State will continue its four-match road trip next week with a pair of conference matches against nationally ranked Cal State San Bernardino.  The Gators will face #14 Cal State San Bernardino on Oct. 25 at 7pm in San Bernardino.  Then a week from this evening, SF State will face #10 UC San Diego in La Jolla, also at 7pm.  This will begin the second half of the conference season for the Gators. 
 
The Gators will return home on Nov. 1 for a 7pm starting match with Cal State Dominguez Hills. 

Box Score