San Francisco – The SF State women's volleyball team put it all together Friday night, in a four set win over visiting Cal State L.A. at the SF State Gymnasium at the Don Nasser Family Plaza. The Gators had four players tally 10 or more kills and hit .322 as a team, winning the match 22-25, 25-22, 25-22, 25-23.
SF State (8-9/6-6 CCAA) continues to be a tough draw on Friday nights, this time the Gators rallied back after falling in the first set for the win to improve to 8-0 on Friday's. The Golden Eagles (10-5/8-4 CCAA) recorded 66 digs on the evening, but it wasn't enough as the Gators posted their third best attacak percentage on the year.
Leading the charge were juniors
Bria Morgan and
Kaileen Mejia who posted an almost identical state line. Morgan finished the night with 15 kills on 31 swings with five errors for a .323 attack percentage, while Mejia totaled 15 kills on 31 swings with three errors for a .387 attack percentage.
Helping push the Gators over the edge on the evening was outstanding play from a pair of freshman.
Samantha Krakower recorded 10 kills, a career-high, in her third career start. Meanwhile
Christine Johnson gave the Gators a huge lift off the bench in the fourth set, blasting five kills to help the Gators put the Golden Eagles away.
Jaclyn Clark also had an impressive night, recording 13 kills and tallying 11 digs for her eighth double-double of the season.
Jacquie Brice finished with 52 assists on the night while the backline trio of
Jessica Nicerio,
Krista Forte and
Arianna Cruz had an impressive defensive night finishing with 15, 14, and 11 digs respectively.
In the opening set the Gators came out slow, Cal State L.A. jumped out to an early 8-2 lead forcing head coach
Jill Muhe to burn a timeout. Out of the break the Gators were relentless trying to get those six points back. Eventually SF State tied the set at 20 all following back-to-back kills by Krakower. Ultimately, the Gators rally fell short. A service error gave the Golden Eagles the lead back and held on to win the set 25-22. Cal State L.A. posted their best attack percentage of the evening in the opening set, hitting .364, while the Gators hit an evening low, .200 with six of their 15 attack errors.
In the second set the Gators looked sharp. The two sides battled to six ties and two lead changes. Midway through the set the Gators led by as much as three, 19-16 before the Golden Eagles went on a run to tie the set at 20-all. The Gators closed out the set on a kill by Morgan, her eighth of the frame, winning 25-22. SF State hit .429 on the set and tied the match at 1-1.
Coming out of the break it was all SF State. The combination of Morgan, Krakower, Clark, Mejia and Johnson proved to be more than the Golden Eagles back line could handle. SF State hit .438 in the third set and only committed one attack error. In the fourth set the Gators hit just .260 but held Cal State L.A. to a match-low .208.
The Gators return to action tomorrow afternoon, taking on Cal State Dominguez Hills at 2:00 p.m. at the SF State gymnasium at Don Nasser Family Plaza.
Post Match Video--
Gator Athletics has a proud tradition of competitive success within the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). The department offers 12 intercollegiate sports programs: Baseball, Men's and Women's Basketball, Men's and Women's Cross Country, Men's and Women's Soccer, Softball, Women's Track & Field, Women's Volleyball and Men's wrestling.Gator Athletics places great emphasis on academic performance as well as athletic achievement. The program offers student athletes the opportunity to reach their educational goals, as well pursue meaningful athletic accomplishments. For more information, visit SF State Athletics' website, Twitter and Facebook pages.
