SAN FRANCISCO — The Main Gym at Don Nasser Family Plaza hosted its first event in 552 days and first volleyball match in 664 days on Friday afternoon. The San Francisco State volleyball team hosted Northwest Nazarene in the first of a pair of matches and showed few signs of rust in a 3-1 (25-20, 21-25, 25-17, 25-15) victory over the Nighthawks in both teams' season openers.

By The Numbers

• The Gators (1-0) went 10 players deep on Friday, half of which were returners. Notably, the DeBoer twins, Brianna and Kimberly, who saw their first season canceled due to the pandemic, made their Gators debut.
• Four SF State players reached double digit kills. All-CCAA players Jessica Haynie and Drew Morris led SF State with 17 and 15 kills, respectively. Trinity Barr and Izzy Isaak both had 11 kills apiece.
• Setters Payton Jensen and Kimberly DeBoer each had 23 assists apiece.
• Brianna DeBoer got the start at libero and led all players with 17 digs.
• The Gators hit .275 for the match, including .351 in the first set.
• Brooke Foster had 17 kills for the Nighthawks (0-1). Libero Caroline McMahon led NNU with 15 digs.

Set One

SF State wasted no time and took a 9-2 lead in the first set. The Nighthawks countered with a 6-2 run to pull within a pair but the Gators stayed just ahead before pulling away with a 7-2 run late. NNU fended off set point three times but Haynie laid down a kill to close out the set, 25-20.

Set Two

As hot as the Gators came out to begin the match, NNU found enough of a rhythm in the second set to stay ahead. NNU jumped out to a 6-2 lead, though the Gators tied the set at 6-6 and again at 16-16. However, NNU went on a 5-1 run. The Gators pulled to within two, 22-20, but a couple of Gators miscues and a Natalie Sullivan kill closed the set out, 25-21.

Set Three

Up 8-7 in the third set, the Gators exploded for an 8-1 run to double up NNU, 16-8. The Gators cruised the rest of the set and Haynie closed it out with another kill, 25-17.

Set Four

An 8-1 run midway through the fourth set more than doubled the lead at 17-8 and SF State wrapped up the match with a 25-15 win.

Quotables

"I'm really proud of how the team came out for our first match in a long time," said SF State Head Coach Matt Hoffman. "It was really good to see them bounce back from the adversity that they faced in set two and they responded well in sets three and four."

Up Next

The Gators host Northwest Nazarene on Saturday, September 4 at 1 p.m., then host Fresno Pacific in another non-conference til on Tuesday, September 7 at 5 p.m. All home matches are being broadcast on the CCAA Network with live stats available at sfstategators.com. Updates will also be available on Twitter at @sfstate_vb.