SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — The No. 21 San Francisco State volleyball team ended a fantastic 2024 season in the NCAA Division II National Championship match. Down 0-2, the Gators looked for a repeat of their Quarterfinal Match. They put together two dominant set wins to force a fifth set but came up short at the end and dropped the match 3-2 (22-25, 22-25, 25-16, 25-16, 13-15).
Kimberly DeBoer,
Izzy Issak,
Anastacia Garza,
Tamiya Wilson and
Aidan Goodrich all were named to the NCAA All-Tournament Team.
- The Gators close out their season with a record of 26-7, the most wins in program history. Lynn University won their first NCAA Championship.
- Overall, SF State outscored the Fighting Knights. Between the three sets lost, the Gators only lost by eight points.
- Four different players recorded double figures in kills. Tamiya Wilson led the way with 21, Anastacia Garza had 17 and Izzy Issak and Aidan Goodrich each had 15.
- Kimberly DeBoer had 55 assists to go with 19 digs.
- Brianna DeBoer recorded 23 digs.
- The senior class of Kimberly DeBoer, Brianna DeBoer, Izzy Issak, Chloe Henning, Cynthia Beall and Alhana Velasquez amassed 80 wins, three CCAA Tournament appearances, two NCAA West Region appearances, a West Region title and a appearance in the National title match.
.
In a back-and-forth opening set, Wilson got the Gators going with four kills through the first ten Gator points. A kill that ricocheted off a Lynn players' dig got the Gators to the media timeout up 15-12. Back-to-back kills from Garza gave the Gators a 21-18 lead and forced the Fight Knights to call their first time-out. Lynn came out of the timeout and equalized the score. Lynn retook the lead at 23-22 and landed two more kills to close out the set.
Neither team would lead by more than two points throughout the majority of the second set. The Gators led 22-20 before Lynn called a timeout. Similar to the set before, the Fighting Knights came back to win the set. While the Gator offense was clicking, the Fighting Knights outhit them with a .486 hitting percentage compared to the Gators' .313
SF State came out of the second set fired up and opened set three with a 9-4 lead before a timeout from the opponent. The Gators did not let up and led 17-8 before the Fighting Knights called their second timeout. Wilson landed five kills in the set while Issak had four. The Gators contained the Urban Knights to a .129 hitting percentage.
The momentum continued into set four as the Gators led by as much as 10 points. The Fighting Knights made a push near the end of the set but back-to-back blocks from the Gators put the fourth set out of reach.
Lynn took its first two-point lead up 10-8. They reached match point at 14-11 but kills from
Katie Parker and
Tamiya Wilson got the Gators within one. Lynn called a timeout and the Gator's were unable to dig out Maria Cecilia's attack on the next serve.
