SAN FRANCISCO – In front of a raucous crowd on Friday night, the San Francisco State volleyball team swept the visiting Stanislaus State Warriors, 3-0 (25-23, 25-18, 25-19) for their fifth sweep of the season.
- The 9-3 start is the best start to the season since 2012 when they also went 9-3.
- The Gators (9-3/2-1 CCAA) are victorious in eight of their last ten matches and improve to 7-1 at The Swamp.
- The win is the second straight over Stanislaus State (6-4/2-1 CCAA) and fourth in their last five matches. It is also the third consecutive at The Swamp over the Warriors.
- SF State hit .345 for their third-highest mark this season.
- Jessica Haynie led the way with a season-high 17 kills and tied a career high with four blocks. Drew Morris, Marlena Billings and Bailey Johnson each added eight kills. Taylor Garcia had 16 digs and Payton Jensen handed out 41 assists while also recording three aces.
- Heading into tonight, Trinity Barr ranked 12th in the nation with a .419 hitting percentage, which was the highest among freshmen in the country, and Johnson was 14th with a mark of .418. SF State not only leads the CCAA in aces per set, but is 12th in the country with a 2.33 clip.
A big block by Johnson and Haynie tied it at four-all, and the duo would join forces again to make it a 6-4 Gator lead. The Warriors bounced back to go up 9-7 and then pushed their advantage to 13-9 before a Morris kill ended the run. Back-to-back Haynie swings off the Stanislaus block attempt cut it to one, 15-14, but once again the Warriors strung together three straight as they made it 18-14. Trailing 23-20, Johnson ignited the crowd and prompt a Warrior timeout with consecutive booming kills, her fourth in the contest, to cut it to one late. Out of the break, Morris dropped in an ace and another Johnson-Haynie block put SF State up 24-23 and Stanislaus was forced to call another timeout. Morris capped off the 5-0 run with her second ace of the frame for the 25-23 victory.
Three-straight points put the hosts up 6-3, but the Warriors were able to cut it to one quickly with kills by Kirara Erving and Macky Morris. Haynie went on to record two more kills and Billings followed with a big swing from the middle that went into the crowd for the 10-6 lead. Three straight by the visitors narrowed their deficit to one, however the Purple and Gold benefited from huge Barr swings from the right side as they now lead 18-14. SF State continued to roll, scoring the final three points on kills by Haynie and an ace by Jensen as they took a commanding 2-0 match lead after a 25-18 set two win.
Stanislaus pulled ahead 5-3 until a Johnson kill off a dish from Jensen cut it to one. Another Jensen ace that went off the diving Warrior knotted the score, 8-8, and tied up again, this time 11-11, Barr added to the scoreboard with another cross-court kill for the lead. Another three-point surge, featuring a Haynie kill, a Warrior error and another Jensen ace, put the hosts up 17-16. The 8-0 run was capped off by a Morris kill as the Gators took a 22-16 lead. Billings and Barr went back-to-back to secure the sweep.
The Gators wrap up the homestand tomorrow against Chico State at 7 p.m. Live stats and a stream will be provided.
