SAN FRANCISCO — The San Francisco State women's volleyball team was unable to hold an early lead against first-place UC San Diego on Saturday night in a 3-1 (22-25, 25-22, 25-13, 25-17) loss.
"I'm happy that we won the first set again. That was a goal and we did a great job like we did last night [against Cal State San Marcos]," said San Francisco State Head Coach
Matt Hoffman. "We executed our game plan in the first set and four fifths through the second set.
The Gators (7-13/3-9 CCAA) began the first sit in a 7-3 deficit but settled down and tied the set at 10-10. A one-handed diving dig by
Cassandra Fong kept the rally alive, then
Christine Johnson followed with a kill. The next five points came by way of attack errors but four went against UCSD (15-5/9-3 CCAA) to give SF State a 14-11 advantage. The Gators lead grew to as large as five and
Drew Morris put the first set away with her sixth kill of the set, a fluke free ball that landed behind the attack line.
In set two, the Gators fell behind 12-9 after hitting into the block twice. They tied it 12-12, only to fall behind by three again. The Gators pulled to within one on several occasions but UC San Diego took set two 25-22.
Out of the intermission, UC San Diego jumped out to an 8-2 advantage. The Gators pulled to within four but the Tritons took the set easily. UCSD hit a match-high .357 in the set while SF State hit .000. The Tritons took a 4-0 lead in set four and used small bursts to stay ahead.
The match was somewhat even on the stat sheet. Both teams had 49 kills and 62 digs. However, UC San Diego had 24 block assists for 13 total blocks, compared to just four for the Gators.
"They countered and we didn't adjust to that," said Hoffman. "They're a good blocking team and they did a good job of that. Our offense went a little stagnant and we lost the ability to counter."
Christine Johnson followed up her career night with a match-high 15 kills.
Drew Morris added 13 kills, 14 digs, and a pair of aces in the loss.
Bailey Johnson had 11 kills and libero
Jocelyn Rodriguez had a team-high 17 digs and no reception errors. Jessica Rieble led UCSD with 13 kills and Amanda Colla had a match-high 18 digs.
The Tritons, who received votes in the most recent NCAA Division II women's volleyball rankings, are tied for first place with Cal State San Bernardino in the CCAA South Division. The Gators remain in fifth place in the CCAA North standings. The top four teams from each region will meet for the CCAA Championships in November, hosted by SF State.
SF State will head to Southern California for its next two matches, on Friday, Oct. 27 at Cal State LA (10-9/6-5 CCAA), and on Saturday, Oct. 28 at Cal State Dominguez Hills (10-10/6-5 CCAA). Both matches are scheduled for a 7 p.m. start.
