SAN DIEGO, California - The San Francisco State volleyball team began the 2019 season with a sweep of Southern Nazarene before falling in a close battle with Point Loma on day one of the Seaside Invitational.
SF State outlasted the Crimson Storm, 26-24, 25-20, 25-18, in match one before being edged by Point Loma, 25-21, 25-19, 25-22.
MATCH ONE
- The match one win was the third-straight in a season opener for SF State and the second consecutive sweep to start the season. It is also the fifth-straight regular season victory for the Gators.
- Southern Nazarene (1-1), who wrapped up the regular season last year winning four of five and topped Concordia (Calif.) earlier in the day, were held to a 0.042 hitting mark including a -0.036 clip in the first set.
- SF State hit .346, which is the best in 23 matches dating back to last season.
- Bailey Johnson hit .625 on 16 attempts, which is the sixth-highest percentage in a match in program history. Johnson now owns five marks in the top ten.
- Drew Morris led the way with 12 kills while Johnson added ten. Payton Jensen dished out 28 assists and 15 digs for her eighth career double-double performance.
- The contest featured a whopping 35 ties and 13 lead changes.
A Johnson kill got the scoring started and
Trinity Barr's first collegiate kill made it a 3-1 lead. Trailing 11-9, SF State rattled off four-straight points featuring points by Haynie, Barr and Johnson to pull ahead 13-9. Both teams swapped the lead until it was tied once again at 23-all, when Hayne put the Gators up one with a kill off the fingertips of the SNU blocker and prompt a Crimson Storm timeout. Out of the break, SNU stayed alive with a kill by Kayla Thomas to tie things up once again. Johnson regained the one-point lead with a point off the block attempt, and Morris clinched the set one win with a booming swing from the middle for the early match lead.
The back-and-forth carried over into the second set, and trailing 10-8, Haynie tied it up with back-to-back kills from the left. Later on Morris slid it through the SNU blockers to put the Gators up 12-11 with another powerful swing from the front. Morris would continue to roll with another point that made it a 15-13 advantages, and later added another kill that prompted a SNU timeout with the Purple and Gold up 17-14.
Marlena Billings ended a Crimson Storm run following the break with a solo block that put the Gators back up by three. Another Barr swing to the back corner off an assist from Jensen made it a 21-19 lead. The Gators wrapped up the set with a 4-0 run to win set two, 25-20.
A 3-0 run put the Gators up 6-3 early in the third. The Crimson Storm battled back to cut it to one, but Morris' tenth kill of the day regained the two-point cushion. Jensen made it 9-6 with a sneaky dump just in front of the SNU backline, but like they have done all day the Crimson Storm answered with three-straight to tie things up at 9-all. Both sides continued to trade leads, and the Gators were finally able to develop a cushion up 19-17. Haynie added another point off of a nice dig by Morris that made it 2–17 and prompt another SNU timeout. A pair of attack errors and another Gator kill continued the streak and widen the lead to 23-17, and a service error gave SF State match point, and another SNU miscue secured the sweep.
MATCH TWO
- The Gators hit just .165, the lowest in their last seven matching.
- SF State had seven aces, three of which were by Morris who also paced the Gators with 12 digs.
- Johnson led the way with nine kills while Billings followed with eight, one shy of her career high.
- Taylor Garcia recorded ten digs and added an ace. Jensen had 28 assists.
- Point Loma (2-0) earned their seventh-straight home win.
Point Loma stormed to a 4-1 lead before the Gators befitted from two errors and a Johnson kill to tie it up. The hosts went on to score four of five to go up 14-11, which was broken up by another Johnson kill off an assist from Jensen. Barr and Anderson went back-to-back to add to the scoreboard as SF State kept it close despite strong net play by the opposition. The Sealions reached their largest lead of the night at 22-16, and closed it out by taking three of the next five points for the early set advantage.
Johnson's dropped one in in front of the diving Sealion to put the Gators on the board in the second and Morris put SF State up 3-2. Billings powered one in to the backline to regain the lead and Dougherty followed with an ace. The rally continued as Billings came up with a big block at the net to widen the lead to three. Five straight by the hosts gave them a 10-8 lead, and another Sealion run widened their lead to 14-9 before Johnson ended the run. The Gators battled back to cut it to one at 18-17 after a pair of host errors along with
Sophie Anderson's swing, but the Sealions went back up by five behind strong play by the front line. Billings kept SF State alive as she cut it to 22-18 with a killto the back right. Point Loma wrapped up the set two win with a booming kill by Jamie Cymbaluk to take a 2-0 match lead.
The intensity carried over to the third with Point Loma maintaining a minimal lead in the early going. Down 8-6, Dougherty turned in a solo block to make it a one-point contest, and an attack error tied it up at eight-all. Billings and Barr notched a block that made it 9-9, and Billings tied it shorty after again with a booming kill to the back. Point Loma bounced back to regain that three-point cushion midway through the set as they led 15-12 going into the timeout. Morris cut it to two with an ace, and a block error followed by and attack error tied it up, 16-all. Both sides added to the scoreboard and Barr tied it with a swing down the line before
Jade Gillespie's ace gave the Purple and Gold an 18-17 lead. The Sealions utilized a 3-0 run to go up 23-20 until a pair of errors in favor of SF State narrowed it to one, 23-22, and the hosts called a timeout. Out of the break, Point Loma got big plays by Torina Hommes and Grace Hicks to seal the win.
In The Gators wrap up the weekend on day two of the Seaside Invitational tomorrow as they play Concordia (Calif.) at 10:45 a.m. and Seattle Pacific at 3:30 p.m. Live stats and a stream will be provided.
