CHICO, California - In a hard-fought battle, the San Francisco State volleyball team fell to host Chico State, 3-1 (25-23, 23-25, 25-21, 25-7).
- SF State (14-8/7-6 CCAA) came out with 42 kills in the first three sets, including 16 in set two where they also hit .324.
- Drew Morris and Jessica Haynie each posted 13 kills, with Morris also adding 12 digs for her seventh double-double of the year.
- Bailey Johnson, who ranked fifth in the CCAA in hitting percentage heading into tonight, recorded ten kills and two blocks. Taylor Garcia added 11 digs.
- The win for Chico State (13-10/9-6 CCAA) propels them to a tie for first place in the CCAA North Division Standings and the Gators now sit in third heading into the final regular season homestead of the year.
Trinity Barr came up with a big solo block for the 9-6 lead and later teamed up with Jensen that made it an 11-7 advantage. The Wildcats bounced back to tie things up at 12-all following a kill by Kim Wright, who ranks second in the CCAA in kills this season. Both sides attempted to make a run at it with Chico finally going up 23-19 as they went on a 4-1 streak before Haynie cut it to three with a kill to the back line off an assist from Payton Jensen, who then followed with an ace. The hosts regrouped with a timeout and came out with another kill to grab set point, however Johnson kept the Gators alive with her fourth of the evening and a Chico attack error made it 24-23. The Wildcats called another timeout and Wright sealed it with a swing for the 25-23.
The back-and-forth carried over into the second, with Jade Gillespie tying it up, 3-3, and a block by Johnson and Morris giving the Gator a one-point lead. The second set would feature 16 ties as SF State looked to even up the match, and Haynie's ace followed by another Morris kill tied it up 22-22. A Wildcat attack error followed by another Morris swing, this time off an assist from Marlena Billings, was part of three straight by SF State as they went up 24-22. Morris would close it out off a dish from Taylor Garcia for the 25-23 win.
A 4-0 run made it a 5-3 Gator lead in the third, and Haynie's second ace of the night put the Purple and Gold up three at 11-8. Chico would respond with a 6-0 run to gain a three-point lead of their own before a SF State timeout. Morris came out of the break with two more kills and Brenna Dougherty followed with an ace to tie it up once again. The hosts went up 21-19, and ended the third on a 5-2 run, with the two SF State points coming from Haynie and Barr kills, to go up 2-1 in the match.
Haynie and Jensen began the fourth with kills, however Chico State ran away with the frame as they utilized an 8-0 run for a 14-3 lead until Johnson stopped the streak with a cross-court swing. The Wildcats hit .500 in the final set with 13 kills and were able to limit the Gators to just five as they rolled two a 25-7 win, capped off by a 7-1 run.
The Gators return to The Swamp on Friday to host Humboldt State at 7 p.m. Live stats and a stream will be provided.
