SAN FRANCISCO — The San Francisco State volleyball swept Chico State and Dominican to finish as the only undefeated team of the Gator/Seawolf Classic co-hosted by SF State and Sonoma State. The Gators swept Chico State 25-14, 25-17, 25-11 and took down Dominican in straight sets, 25-12, 25-17, 25-12, in front of their home fans inside the Main Gym at Don Nasser Family Plaza. With the pair of wins, SF State improves to 7-0 and is off to its best start in program history.
- The win streak sets a new record, previously held in 1997, when that squad won its first six matches of the season.
- Trinity Barr continued her strong play, adding 14 kills on .357 hitting versus Chico State (4-3) and nine more kills in the nightcap. Her .423 hitting percentage on the season is fourth highest among CCAA players and just behind teammate Izzy Isaak, who's hitting .429.
- Drew Morris had eight kills on .428 hitting to begin her day and capped that off with a dozen kills on .407 hitting, along with a combined 15 digs.
- Jessica Haynie had eight kills followed by 13 kills versus versus Dominican (0-9). Haynie leads all CCAA players with 3.91 kills per set and her 4.64 points per set rank second.
- Brianna DeBoer had a match-high 17 digs in the first match.
- Payton Jensen combined for 43 assists while Kimberly DeBoer dished out 32 assists.
- The team's .468 hitting percentage is fourth highest in a single match.
- SF State held Chico State to a stifling -.025 hitting percentage and held Dominican to just .112.
The Gators flew out to a 7-0 start before the Wildcats got on the board out of a timeout thanks to a service error. In fact, four of the Wildcats' first five points were a result of SF State errors. SF State never led by fewer than five the rest of the set and led by as much as a dozen at one point. Jensen started off set two with a trio of service aces and the Gators never looked back. In fact, Chico State's only lead of the night came in set three when Gretta Kirby began the set with an ace of her own. The Gators answered with kills from Morris and Haynie and used a 9-0 run to blow the set open at 17-5.
In the nightcap, the Gators used a 10-3 run to propel themselves into control versus Dominican. After taking set one 25-12, SF State cruised into another set victory thanks to a 6-2 start. Midway through set two and up comfortably, 15-7, SF State Head Coach Matt Hoffman was able to spread out the playing time. Morgan Spears made her Gators debut and served, followed by Marlena Billings, who recorded a pair of kills in the set in her first appearance of the season. By the end of the match, Hoffman used 15 different players as the Gators closed things out 25-12. Jade Gillespie saw her first action of the season while Cynthia Beall and Nicole Kimura also made their Gators debuts.
"This was a great way to close out non-conference play and the tournament," said Hoffman. "It was also nice to get more people contributing and build that camaraderie as we head into conference play next week."
The Gators have some time to rest up before beginning CCAA action on Thursday, September 16 at Cal State East Bay. First serve is slated for 7 p.m. The match will be broadcast free on the CCAA Network with live stats available at sfstategators.com. Updates will also be available on Twitter at @sfstate_vb.
