SAN MARCOS – Leaving it all out on the court, the Stanislaus State volleyball team gave a passionate performance in the five-set race for victory, but came up short in the end when Cal State San Marcos took home the win at The Sports Center on Saturday night.
Dominating the game defensively, the Warriors remain to be seen as possibly the best team to not see a win yet this season. Battling to the end Stan State lost two sets to three, 15-25, 25-22, 25-23, 13-25, 12-15. The Warriors are now 0-12 overall and 0-4 in the CCAA while the Cougars are 5-6 and 2-1.
Once again leading her team,
Rachel Klopfer dominated at the net with 18 kills. Assisting on the pins were
Sierra Adams with 11 kills and
Ramey Gardner with 10 kills. Libero
Kaitlyn Iwamoto adds another night of impressive defensive skill to her resume, leading the match with 35 digs, tying for second best in the Stan State record book for digs in a match.
Also with double digit digs,
Breanna Cannon dug 19 and Klopfer had 14 digs. Sharing time officiating the Warriors' offense, Cannon led with 27 assists and
Jordan Tilley tallied 24 assists.
In typical Warrior fashion, Stan State out-hit the Cougars 61-54, and out-dug CSUSM 100-87. Unfortunately, a series of 33 hitting errors and 10 missed serves allowed the Cougars to come out victorious, despite the Warrior's aggressive presence on the court.
Stan State failed to come out strong in set one but bounced back immediately, holding on tight to the lead for the entirety of set two. Two four-point runs secured Cal State San Marcos the lead in set three before the Warriors tied the game at 22-22 and flew ahead when it counted. Set four mirrored the first, taking the match into a fifth set where the Warriors took and lost the lead twice before the end.
Maddy Newcombe led the Cougars offensively with 10 kills, followed by Faith Fortune and Lauren Lee who each had seven kills. Setter Aleese Wheated led Cal State San Marcos with 25 digs and 27 assists. The Cougars put up a tough wall at the net, Fortune and Newcombe both with five blocks and Lee with four.
Next weekend the Warriors are on the road again, this time staying in the CCAA North to take on San Francisco State on Friday and Sonoma State on Saturday.
