Box Score TURLOCK - There were definitely something strange in this neighborhood inside Fitzpatrick Arena on Halloween as No. 18 ranked Cal State San Bernardino treated the home team Warriors to a 3-0 loss Friday night.
Alexandra Torline smashed 16 kills to lead the Coyotes in the 25-13, 25-16, 25-16, decision to improve to 15-5 overall and 12-4 in the California Collegiate Athletic Association. The Warriors lost their fifth straight three-set match and fell to 2-18, 2-14 in conference play.
What was strange was the number of unusual mistakes both teams made - from rotation errors to wrong-server calls - in front of a small Halloween night crowd of under a hundred.
In the end, the national powerhouse again handled the Warriors for the 28th consecutive time in 14 seasons to improve their head-to-head mark to 32-2 all-time.
Still, there were some flashes of stellar play by the Warriors - like hitting nearly .200 in set number one. But against the Coyotes, that meant they were even better in the 25-13 first set. CSU San Bernardino nailed 54.5 percent of its shots in set one with 14 kills on 22 attempts with just two errors. They converted on 92 percent of sideouts in the opener en route to the relatively easy win.
Stanislaus, which made some line-up changes on the night, was led by
Taylor Massengale and
Paige Walker, each with eight kills. They both hit better than .300 on the attack, but collectively the Warriors ended up with a .143 (CSUSB .376).
Blair Ehrlich had five kills,
Hailey Gruetzmacher's nine digs was a team-hight and
Rachel Parsons had 24 assists.
Another strong CCAA team visits Saturday night when Humboldt State stops in Turlock. The Lumberjacks lost at Chico State Friday but are in third place at 14-6 overall and 11-5 CCAA. The match Saturday night is at 7 p.m.