TURLOCK, Calif.--- Stan State continues CCAA play on the road this Saturday, Sept. 19, when the Warriors travel to Chico State for a 5 p.m. match at Art Acker Gymnasium. Saturday's match will conclude a season-opening 10-match road trip that has taken the Warriors to Fresno and Arcata, Calif., Denton, Texas, and Carson, Calif.

The Warriors (3-6, 0-2 CCAA) will look to bounce back after a pair of five-set losses at Cal Poly Humboldt and Cal State Dominguez Hills last weekend. Following Saturday's match, Stan State will return to Turlock for its home opener against San Francisco State on Thursday, Sept. 24.

Flowers Third in Career Victories
Lauren Flowers enters Saturday's match with a 66-55 (.545) record in her fifth season at the helm of the Stan State volleyball program after the Warriors dropped a pair of five-set matches at Cal Poly Humboldt and Cal State Dominguez Hills to open CCAA play. Flowers is third on Stan State's all-time coaching wins list, trailing only Christina Lore (82) and Cindy Nikkel (78), while her .545 career winning percentage remains the highest of any head coach in program history.

During Flowers' tenure, Warriors have earned 16 All-CCAA honors, including 2024 CCAA Libero of the Year Gabby Rawson and 2024 CCAA Freshman of the Year Malia Tanksley. Rawson also earned AVCA All-America honors in 2024, while Ellison Weaver was named the 2024 CCAA Tournament MVP and became the program's first AVCA National Player of the Week.

Flowers has guided Stan State to three CCAA Tournament appearances in four seasons, highlighted by the program's first CCAA Tournament championship and first NCAA Tournament appearance in 2024. Her tenure also includes a program-record-tying 19 victories in 2022 and a program-best 22 wins in 2024.

Weekend Recap
Stan State opened CCAA play with a pair of five-set road losses last weekend, falling at Cal Poly Humboldt and Cal State Dominguez Hills. The Warriors rallied from a 2-0 deficit at Humboldt before falling 15-12 in the fifth, then held a 2-1 lead at Cal State Dominguez Hills before the Toros rallied for a 15-10 fifth-set victory.

The Warriors played 10 sets during the weekend and held their opponents to a .134 hitting percentage. Stan State averaged 16.40 digs and 2.40 blocks per set while recording 24 total blocks over the two matches.
Maggie Olson led the Warriors offensively with 24 kills while hitting .333 and averaging 2.67 kills per set. Lauren Gonzales had 22 kills, while Lauren Hamilton finished with 15 kills, hit .289 and recorded a team-high 12 blocks. Rylee Szyszka led Stan State with 41 digs, averaging 4.10 per set.

Warriors Update
Through nine matches, Stan State is averaging 11.43 kills, 10.48 assists, 15.10 digs and 1.88 blocks per set while hitting .189. The Warriors have held their opponents to a .180 hitting percentage and hold a 604-592 advantage in digs.

Gonzales leads Stan State with 91 kills and 104 points while averaging 2.28 kills per set. Emily Meyer has 75 kills, while Hamilton has 68 kills and leads the Warriors with a .340 hitting percentage. Olson has 62 kills and is hitting .285, while Fallon Freeman and Soraya Forbes each have 50 kills.

Hamilton also leads Stan State at the net with 38 total blocks, including 12 solo blocks, and is averaging 0.95 blocks per set. Freeman has 16 total blocks, Meyer has 14 and Olson has 11.

Leah Mendoza leads the Warriors with 126 digs and is averaging 3.15 per set. Gonzales has 104 digs, Szyszka has 89 and Ireland Avalos has 70.

Stan State has played five five-set matches in its last six contests, including both of its CCAA matches last weekend.

CCAA Leaders
Hamilton ranks among the CCAA's top six in two categories. She is sixth in hitting percentage at .340 with 68 kills and just 14 errors in 159 attempts. Hamilton also ranks fifth in blocks, averaging 0.95 per set with 38 total blocks, including 12 solo blocks.

Reagan Wilkerson ranks eighth in the CCAA in assists, averaging 6.43 per set with 193 assists in 30 sets.
Seeing Double
Stan State has had several players contribute double-doubles through the opening nine matches, including three Warriors in Saturday's five-set match at Cal State Dominguez Hills.

Wilkerson has recorded four double-doubles this season and six in her career, with all four coming consecutively during the Denton VolleyFest. Her streak included a career-high 43 assists and 12 digs in the victory over Southern Nazarene.

Gonzales has four double-doubles this season. She recorded three consecutive double-doubles in Texas before adding 13 kills and 12 digs against Cal State Dominguez Hills on Saturday.

Avalos has recorded three double-doubles as a Warrior, including both matches during the CCAA-opening weekend. She had 26 assists and 11 digs at Cal Poly Humboldt before finishing with 13 assists and 15 digs at Cal State Dominguez Hills.  Szyszka recorded her first double-double of the season Saturday at Cal State Dominguez Hills, finishing with 11 assists and 19 digs.

Scouting Chico State
Chico State enters Saturday's match 2-4 overall and 1-1 in the CCAA. The Wildcats opened conference play with a four-set victory at Cal State Dominguez Hills before falling in straight sets at Cal Poly Humboldt.  Chico State is averaging 11.38 kills, 10.48 assists, 16.43 digs and 2.05 blocks per set while hitting .149. The Wildcats' opponents are hitting .196.

Maria Wahl leads Chico State with 56 kills, averaging 2.80 per set, and has added a team-high 60 digs. Kassandra Nall has 54 kills while hitting .257, while Jillian Davis has 43 kills. Whitney Fairfield has 26 kills and leads the Wildcats with 22 total blocks.

Claire Nordeen has a team-high 109 assists and is averaging 7.79 per set while adding 48 digs. Sinam Minasian has 62 assists, 48 digs and a team-high eight service aces.

Stan State-Chico State Series
Chico State leads the series 22-15 since 2007, but Stan State has won eight of the last 10 meetings. The Warriors are 5-13 in Chico during that span.

The teams split their two meetings last season. Stan State swept Chico State 25-16, 25-19, 25-13 in Turlock, hitting .264 while holding the Wildcats to .082. The Warriors finished with a 12-5 advantage in blocks and a 7-1 edge in service aces.

Returning Warriors who contributed to the sweep included Freeman with nine kills, Meyer with six kills, Irene London with seven blocks, Gonzales with four service aces and eight digs, Wilkerson with 15 assists, Mendoza with 13 digs and Victoria Plumb with an ace.

Chico State won the second meeting in 2025, defeating Stan State 25-15, 14-25, 25-23, 25-20 in Chico. Freeman led the Warriors with 12 kills, Gonzales had five service aces, London recorded four blocks, Wilkerson finished with 16 assists and Mendoza had seven digs.

Stan State's most recent victory in Chico came in 2023, when the Warriors won in four sets, 25-18, 25-16, 21-25, 25-17. The Warriors have dropped their last two trips to Art Acker Gymnasium, falling in five sets in 2024 and four sets in 2025.

Home Court Success Under Flowers
Stan State will return to Fitzpatrick Arena following Saturday's match at Chico State for its first home matches of the 2026 season. The Warriors are 30-25 (.545) at home over the previous four seasons under Flowers.  Stan State went 10-8 at home in 2022, 6-8 in 2023, 8-5 during its CCAA Tournament championship season in 2024 and 6-4 last season.

CCAA Sports on FloCollege
Saturday's match at Chico State begins at 5 p.m. at Art Acker Gymnasium and can be seen live on FloCollege.

Up Next
Stan State returns to Turlock for its home opener against San Francisco State on Thursday, Sept. 24, at 5 p.m. in Ed & Bertha Fitzpatrick Arena. Levi Flores and Michelle Stucker will be on the call for the Warriors' home opener against the Gators.

The home opener begins a CCAA Pod Weekend at Fitzpatrick Arena. Cal State East Bay will face San Francisco State on Friday, Sept. 25, at 5 p.m. before Stan State concludes the weekend against Cal State East Bay on Saturday, Sept. 26, at 3 p.m.