HAYWARD — The promotional break was not kind to the Warriors. Stanislaus State took a 2-0 lead into the break but the momentum shifted in favor of the home team Pioneers as Cal State East Bay rallied from behind to pick up its first conference win.
In a very tight match throughout, East Bay ended up victorious 27-29, 19-25, 25-15, 25-20, 15-13, to hand the Warriors their second loss of the season. Stanislaus will finally play a pair of home matches this weekend and will hold a 8-2 overall and 2-2 in the California Collegiate Athletic Association.
Blair Ehrlich led four Warriors in double figures in kills with 16 kills.
Jocelyn Cervantes had 13 kills while
Taylor Massengale and
Paige Walker each added 12 for the Warriors.
Cervantes had 22 of the team's 92 digs.
Hailey Gruetzmacher and Walker finished with 17 digs each. Cervantes also had three aces,
Courtney Lewis led with five blocks and
Maddi Seidl had 47 assists.
Cal State East Bay, which seemed to have an answer for every Stanislaus rally, improved to 3-8 overall and 1-2 in league play. The Pioneers were led by Kiki Leuteneker with 17 kills. Julie Navarro and Kiani Rayford each spiked 14.
An epic first-set battle eventually went to the Warriors at 29-27 after a
Jocelyn Cervantes aced a serve and
Taylor Massengale put the long set away with one of her kills. The tight set had eight ties with the home team Pioneers taking charge at 19-15. The Warriors then held of set-point with a
Paige Walker kill to extend the set. Walker, in fact, was key in the late rally, scoring all three of the team's offensive points for the win.
The Warriors edged East Bay in set two before the intermission break, but the Pioneers came back out on fire and then closing out the set on an 8-1 run to extend the match.
Set four could have also gone either way, but at 18-18, CSUEB got Rayford to step-up as the Pioneers attacked with efficiency to force the decisive fifth.
Holding home court, the Pioneers eventually held off the Warriors with Rayford setting up match point and Kathy McKiernan ended the match with a slam.
Stanislaus will reground to host a pair of contest at Fitzpatrick Arena this weekend, first with Humboldt State Friday night and Sonoma State on Saturday at 7 p.m.
