CARSON -- Stan State took a trip to Southern California for a three-game weekend at Cal State Dominguez Hills for the Toro Classic. The Warriors came out unscathed with a 3-0 record in the tournament, bringing their overall record to 6-1 for the season.
The team had their work cut out for them with an opening match against #25 Winona State, but far exceeded expectations as they pulled off a three-set sweep of the crowd favorite in a dominant offensive performance. Stanislaus finished the match with a .311 hitting percentage, their second highest of the season. Running a well-balanced offensive effort and five players with double digit attempts, Penelope Zepeda led the way with 11 kills on .455 efficiency. Middle Blockers Autumn Kirby and Alex Bryd saw posted errorless performances with six kills on 12 attempts (.500) for Kirby and seven kills on 11 swings (.636) and four blocks for Bryd. The Warriors also managed to out-dig Winona 54-45, with Libero Gabby Rawson leading the charge with 19.
Ellison Weaver helped the group pull away in the first set with a solid serving run. The second set saw four-serve hot streaks by Rawson and Kirby to go up 2-0 in the match. Winona State struck in the third set, with a 13-10 lead, but the Warriors answered back with kills from Macky Morris, Zepeda, and Kirby. Rawson also caught fire with a five-point service run to shut the door on the match. This was the Warriors first win against an AVCA nationally ranked opponent since 2015 when the Warriors took down San Bernadino in five sets.
Stan State aimed to capitalize on their huge win against regional opponent Western Colorado later that night. The Warriors were able to sweep the Mountaineers, improving on point totals each set 25-22, 25-16, 25-12. The three set was led with a team effort where the Warriors out hit the 'Neers .289 to .042. The balanced offense was led this time by Morris who hit .533 with 10 kills. Efficiency was the name of the game as Byrd hit .625 to go along with eight blocks, just one block shy of her career high. This puts her in the Stan State record books tied for seventh all-time in a match. Her middle counterpart, Kirby, led from the service line with four aces to add to her .400 hitting percentage on ten swings. Rawson once again led the back row and all players in the match with 13 digs.
The Warriors ended their road trip against conference foe and host Cal State Dominguez Hills. This match would go the distance in a five-set battle. The Warriors stole the first set 25-12, hitting an errorless .520. The Toros however, would not back down, taking sets two and three with identical scores of 25-20. With the Warriors' backs against the wall, they came out strong in the fourth set with 8-1 lead assisted by a strong serving performance by Weaver. Despite the Toros' attempts to climb back, the Warriors held the lead through the whole set and won 25-19. In a final effort to finish the weekend undefeated, the team took an early 8-1 lead behind strong serving by Kirby and Morris leading the Warriors offense. While Dominguez Hills was able to get some side outs in their favor, Stan State kept the pressure on the serve with Eaton earning a strong ace to stretch the lead to 12-3. The Warriors closed out the set 15-6 and capped the Toro Classic 3-0. The offense had seven Warriors with double digit swings led by Morris with 13 kills. Setter, Haley Burdo set a career high with 20 digs to lead the Warriors along with her 21 assists.
Head Coach, Lauren Flowers, on the weekend: "I'm really proud of how the whole team played this weekend. We were able to play some really talented teams that pushed us to be better, and I loved our response in tough situations. This is the second straight week where we have had serving runs from everyone. I truly felt we got better this weekend and that's fun to see and watch our team compete. I am excited to be able to play our next match in front of our fans!"
The Warriors end the two-week road trip 6-1 and will have their first home match of the season against Academy of Art this Tuesday, Sept. 6th at 5pm. The Warriors are set to start CCAA conference play this coming weekend.
