HAYWARD, Calif. — The San Francisco State volleyball team fought hard on Wednesday night but fell to host Cal State East Bay in straight sets, 25-18, 25-21, 25-22.
- Payton Jensen notched 32 assists and tied her season high with three kills. Olivia Tabron paced SF State with 11 kills and Jessica Haynie followed with ten.
- Drew Morris poured in seven kills and eight digs. Vanessa Ditz led all players with 20 digs. Jade Gillespie added nine digs and a pair of assists.
- The Gators (10-8/5-6 CCAA) hit just .147 in the contest, which is their third-lowest shooting percentage this year.
The Pioneers came out to a 4-1 lead before Marlena Billings dropped in a kill to the sideline. Cal State East Bay (12-8/8-4 CCAA) widened the lead 6-2 with swings by Tayler Templeman and Kiki Leuteneker, but Tabron recorded her first point of the night to cut it to three. Trailing 9-6, Haynie narrowed it once again with a kill that bounced off the Pioneer block and went out of bounds for her first kill of the night. The hosts pushed their advantage to 19-13 before a CSUEB service error ended the run. Haynie got another kill down the stretch and Tabron added to the scoreboard with her third kill of the night to make it 22-17. A Gator miscue ended the set in favor of the Pioneers, 25-18.
A Tabron swing and a Pioneer attack error put SF State up 3-2 early in the second set. Bailey Johnson's booming kill to the back corner tied things up 4-4, and Haynie followed with three-straight kills as the Gators took a 7-4 lead. Jensen and Morris continued the surge for SF State, and Haynie made it an 11-7 advantage. East Bay, who has dropped just one contest at home this season, bounced back with four-straight points to knot the score, 12-all. Another Haynie swing tied it up once again at 17-17, and a block by Billings and Tabron put the Purple and Gold up by one. The back-and-forth continued as the score tied, 20-all, but the Pioneers got consecutive kills by Kathy McKiernan and an ace to go up 23-20. The Pioneers then grabbed set point, however a block by Jensen and Johnson kept SF State alive. But a serve error gave East Bay the set two victory by a final score of 25-21. The Gators held the Pioneers to a .125 hitting percentage in set two, but the hosts came up big down the stretch and ended the frame on a 5-1 run to take a 2-0 lead in the match.
Kills by Tabron and Johnson, which were both assisted by Jensen, put the Gators up 5-3 in the third. East Bay then went on a 7-0 streak to take a five point lead before Johnson's fourth kill of the contest ended the run. The Pioneers pushed their lead to 15-7 before Haynie got SF State back on the scoreboard. The rally continued with back-to-back kills by Tabron, and a service ace by Jensen cut it to two. After a timeout, SF State benefited from an attack error to cap off the 7-0 run and cut the East Bay advantage, 15-14. The hosts pulled ahead 17-15 before Billings dropped in a kill in the middle of the court, and a swing by Jensen tied things up yet again at 18-all. Consecutive kills by Lindsey Ray propelled the Pioneers to a 22-20, and they went up by three on another Ray kill following a timeout. Johnson dropped in a kill to end the run, and Haynie followed to cut it to one. Ray gave the hosts match point and a block by Tayler Templeman and Deja Thompson sealed the three-set win.
SF State battles Cal State Monterey Bay this Friday, October 12 at 7 p.m. at the Kelp Bed. A live steam will be provided, and be sure to follow @sfstate_vb on Twitter for in-game updates.
