SAN FRANCISCO – The San Francisco State women's volleyball team looked like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde on Friday evening. In the first match of the twin billing the Gators could not get out of their own way as they were swept by Hawaii-Hilo (16-25, 20-25, 25-27) before coming back in the finale to smash Holy Names in straight-sets (25-12, 25-21, 25-15) on the second day of the D2 West Region Volleyball Showcase.
Against Hawaii-Hilo, SF State (4-3) was plagued by self-inflicted wounds. Every time the Gators went on a run a costly service error, ball handling error or attack error would prevent the comeback. SF State finished the match with 14 attack errors on the day, six service errors and four ball handing errors.
Hawaii-Hilo (3-2) hit .289 for the match, and finished with just nine attack errors, five coming in the final frame. Randi Hunter led the Vulcans with a match-high 14 kills.
As a team, the Gators hit .222, finishing with 38 kills on 108 swings. Four Gators flirted with double-digit kills, with
Bailey Johnson tallying a team-high nine kills on 18 swings for a .389 attack percentage.
Eden Fukushima finished with 34 assists and nine digs, while
Emily Johns finished with a match-high 15 digs.
In the nightcap, it was all SF State. The Gators hit .354 against the Hawks, a season-best.
Bailey Johnson and
Brenna Dougherty were a force for SF State.
Bailey Johnson hit .824 on the match, tallying a match-high 14 kills on 17 swings. Dougherty finished with 11 kills on 25 swings with 10 digs for a double-double. Johnson's .824 clip broke the single match record for hitting percentage, set in the first match of the season by teammate
Lauren Williams (.762). Prior to this season, the record stood at .739, set in 2012 by Jazmine Williams.
Offensively, SF State was simply too much for the Hawks (0-8). The Gators never hit lower than .303 in the match. Holy Names however, hit just .071 with only one player in double figures in kills.
The Gators return to action tomorrow evening when they wrap up the D2 West Region Volleyball Showcase taking on cross-city rival Academy of Art at 7:30 p.m. at the Main Gym at the Don Nasser Family Plaza.
