POMONA, Calif. – The San Francisco State volleyball fell in both matches on day two of the Cal Poly Pomona/Azusa Pacific Invitation. The Gators came from behind to push #20 Chaminade to a fifth set but ultimately fell to the Swords (20-25, 21-25, 25-18, 25-15, 6-15). The co-host team Azusa Pacific took the Gators in three (16-25, 22-25, 16-25)
- The Gators fall to 3-4 on the season. Chaminade, the Pac West defending champion, improve to a perfect 9-0 while APU improves to 3-4.
- Chaminade was selected to finish first in the Pac West while APU was selected to finish fifth.
- SF State had the lowest total points in a match versus Azusa Pacific, registering 42.
- Tamiya Wilson had a team-high 14 kills in game one while three different players had eight kills against APU.
Poor offense doomed the Gators in set one. They stayed in the set thanks to errors from Chaminade. An ace from Izzy Issak cut the deficit to three points at 23-20 but a service error from Issak gave Chaminade the ball back and another Gator error gave them set point.
The Gators led the majority of set two. Up 19-13, a 7-0 run from Chaminade reclaimed the lead for the Swords. A block from Kimberly DeBoer and Anastacia Garza tied things up again but Chaminade outscored the Gators 4-1 to close out the set.
SF State opened set three 4-0. A pair of aces from Asia Arbaugh highlighted a 5-0 run that put the Gators up 12-5. Chaminade came within one-point of the lead, but a 8-1 Gators run put them in front for good.
Set four was all Gators as SF State would lead by as many as 11 points in the set. The Gators had their best hitting percentage of the set at .313 and held Chaminade to only six kills.
Tied 2-2 in the final set, a 7-0 run from Chaminade proved too much for the Gators to overcome.
Gators fell behind early in set one. After a time-out down 12-5, the Gators got a couple points back but APU ballooned the lead to 10 and the Gators were never able to overcome the deficit.
After another slow start the Gators were able to comeback and take a two-point lead at 12-10 in the second set. Both teams rallied back and forth in a close set two. A kill from Wilson tied it at 22-22 but a pair of errors from the Gators helped the set get away from them.
A service error and setter error gave the Cougars the lead at 9-8 and they would stretch it to 12-8 before the Gators got the serve back. The Gators were not able to get a good offensive run the rest of the set, dropping the third and final set.
The Gators will close out their non-conference schedule with one final match in Socal. They play Northwest Nazarene at 11 a.m. on Cal Poly Pomona's Campus. The match will be broadcast on the CCAA Network with live stats available at sfstategators.com. Updates will also be available on Twitter at @sfstate_vb.
