SAN FRANCISCO - The San Francisco State volleyball team fought hard on Saturday but fell to No. 1 Cal State San Bernardino in three (25-21, 25-21, 25-22).
- San Bernardino (19-0/12-0 CCAA), who has only lost five sets all year, was challenged by SF State (13-7/6-5 CCAA) throughout the night and had to fend off many Gator runs to earn the victory.
- The 49 points scored by SF State are the most given up by San Bernardino in a three setter this season.
- The Gators had 11 aces, which are the most conceded by the Coyotes this year and third most recorded by SF State this season. Payton Jensen led the way with seven aces, tied for the third most by a player since 2003.
- Sophie Anderson had a career-high ten kills and hit .350. Trinity Barr added eight kills and Drew Morris dropped in seven. Jensen had 31 assists while Taylor Garcia contributed 16 digs.Â
Jensen's ace started off the night and Bailey Johnson followed with a kill for an early 2-0 lead. The Coyotes quickly scored the next three and later got a 5-0 run to go up 10-4. Morris' first kill of the night made it 11-6 and later Jessica Haynie got on the board off a dish from Jensen. Haynie would later answer again to cut it to four, and Johnson and Anderson teamed up for a big block that cut it to three, but the visitors were able to get the two right back for the 18-12 lead. The Gators strung together four straight capped off by a pair of Jade Gillespie aces to narrow it to two and force a Coyote timeout. San Bernardino bounce back once again to go back up by four before Barr recorded a kill to the middle that made it 21-18, and Johnson added a nice touch to the sideline that cut it to two, 23-21. However the Coyotes quickly put it away called off by a kill by Stephanie Doak for the 25-21 win.
Johnson put SF State up 3-2 in the second but the Coyotes quickly got four in a row to take a 6-3 lead. Three straight with two Barr kills and one from Morris tied it at 7-all, and the back-and-forth continued until Jensen had three-straight aces to put SF State up 13-11 and force another Coyote timeout. The visitors would later tie it up at 17-17 before Barr added another booming kill from the middle to regain the lead. Leading by one again, this time 21-20, the Coyotes scored three straight capped off by an ace to go up 22-21, and got three more with Alexis Cardoza recording her 15th kill for the 25-21 victory.Â
Jensen started off with three more aces to start the third to continue her strong night, but the Coyotes bounced back to take a 5-4 lead. Gillespie added an ace and Anderson recorded one herself to put the Gators up 10-7 as part of a 3-0 run. Once again, San Bernardino got a 4-0 run of their own to go up 11-10, and an ace brought it to a 14-11 advantage as they looked to close it out. Leading just 19-17, Morris made it a one-point game with a kill from the left, but San Bernardino regained that two-point cushion with a block which was part of a 4-0 run to go up 23-18. Facing match point, Barr and Jensen responded with kills and Johnson and Haynie got a big block to cut it to 24-22, but a Gator miscue sealed the win for the visitors as they remained perfect on the season.Â
The Gators will take on Sonoma State this Wednesday at 7 p.m. Live stats and a stream will be provided.
