Box Score
SAN FRANCISCO – The SF State Gators lost a hard-fought match to the visiting 22nd ranked Cal State San Bernardino Coyotes (25-20, 17-25, 19-25, 25-19, 13-15). This was the Gators' second straight match to a top 25 ranked team as last night they fell to #8 UC San Diego.
"To play these two teams is tall order at any part of the season," said SF State head coach Jill Muhe. "I am happy with the way we bounced back from last night and played a hard fought match with CSUSB."
The Gators (5-5, 0-2 CCAA) took a 7-2 lead in the first set capped by one of Jaclyn Clark's 13 kills. Cal State San Bernardino came right back and tied the set at 9-9 on a Tori May kill.
SF State retook the lead on a kill by Melissa Horton and never looked back, 10-9. The hosts increased their lead to 20-12 in thanks to two straight hitting errors by the Coyotes. The visitors cut the Gator lead to 21-18 on a SF State hitting error, but could not get any closer as the hosts held on for a 25-20 set one win.
Cal State San Bernardino (6-4, 2-0 CCAA) came out on fire in the second set as the Coyotes took a 17-5 lead.
SF State cut the deficit to 22-14 on a kill by Megan Wright, but Cal State San Bernardino held on for the set two 25-17 win.
After the break, the third set went back and forth with Megan Wright's kill tying the set at 17-17. The Coyotes then scored 8 of the sets final 10 points including back to back kills by Alexandra Torline and Tori to give the visitors the set 25-19.
The fourth set was also evenly played with the Gators taking a 14-12 lead on a hitting error by CSUSB. A kill by the Coyotes' Ashley Solis tied the match at 17-17 but the Gators took the lead for on a service error by the visitors. Two kills in the final three points by Kaileen Mejia secured the SF State set four win 25-19 to send the match into the fifth set.
In the deciding set, the Gators opened up with a 7-4 lead. The Coyotes tied the set at 9-9 on a May kill, but SF State took a 9-8 lead on another kill by Mejia. A Gator hitting error tied the match at 10-10. A kill and a service ace by Clark gave the Gators a 13-11 lead, but the hosts could not close it out as Cal State San Bernardino scored the final four points capped by a Ashley Solis kill.
Clark finished with 13 kills and 15 digs while Jacquie Brice had 51 assists and 12 digs. Horton added 13 kills for the hosts and Kelly Ostello had 11 kills. Mejia hit for a .600 percentage with 7 kills.
Tory May led the visitors with 16 kills for a .533 hitting percentage.
SF State will return to the road next week for a pair of conference matches in Southern California. The Gators will face Cal State L.A. this Friday, September 27th in Los Angeles and Cal State Dominguez Hills a week from this evening in Carson. Both matches are scheduled to start at 7pm.
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