TURLOCK — The Cal State Stanislaus women's volleyball team made 12th-ranked UC San Diego earn its victory Saturday night in the Warrior Arena.
The Warriors rallied from down 0-2 to nearly getting a fifth set before UC San Diego held off two Stanislaus set-points to win in four, 25-17, 25-21, 21-25, 27-25.
Sylvia Schmidt had a season-high 20 kills to lead all players as UCSD improved to 12-3 overall and 6-2 in the California Collegiate Athletic Association. The "almost-there" Stanislaus Warriors are 4-14 and 1-7 in league play.
Lianne Vicchio led the Warriors with 13 kills and
Karly Penton had a great night with 10 kills (on 18 attempts, .529 percentage) and three blocks. Setter
Nicki Brown had a season-high 38 assists.
Jen Gee chipped in nine kills and
Megan Loghry had six kills and five blocks.
"Tonight demonstrated what the future holds for this young team," CSUS head coach Chris Lore said. "We took a nationally ranked team and played them really well. We are starting to find our groove and I am really proud of how (we) battled."
The Warriors had pushed all the way back from down two sets to none to win the third 25-21 behind the strong play of Vicchio and Gee, each with five kills in set three. CSUS also took advantage of Triton attacking errors as UCSD was just .069 on the attack during the set (they hit over .300 in the other three sets).
In the fourth, after a Vicchio kill to give the Warriors their first set-point at 24-22, a service error gave the ball back to UCSD. The Warriors would gain a second set-point opportunity after a Loghry kill that made it 25-24 — but San Diego's Kimberly Carpenter put a shot away to tie it at 25-25. Schmidt then picked up her 20th kill to give UCSD the advantage as the Tritons held on for the win.
"We almost had it (in the fourth). Losing in the fourth the way we did showed our age," Lore said. "We haven't been in too many high pressure situations and to be able to handle that comes with more experience. We felt like it's a victory because we improved on so many areas we have been working on and played well."
Cal State Stanislaus hopes to carry the positive momentum into next weekend's homestand as they host Cal State Monterey Bay on Friday and San Francisco State on Saturday.
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