Wildcats take a step back against the Seawolves
Libero Brooke Fogel back-row attacks the ball against Cal State San Bernardino earlier in the year in this archived photo. Photo credit: Julia Maldonado
After gaining confidence with a sweeping win against the Lumberjacks Friday night, Chico State women’s volleyball was ready to conquer Sonoma State on Saturday night, or so they thought.
The Wildcats were off to a weak start letting the Seawolves take the lead 6-12. However, after a much needed time out, Chico became a threat and trailed by only two points. Eventually both teams were tied at a score of 20-20.
Chico State used the comeback to their advantage and did not allow Sonoma State to score while they reached game point. The Seawolves were far from giving up and had a comeback of their own taking the set 24-26.
Eager to prove that they could dominate on the court the Wildcats took lead of the second set early on at an impressive score of 8-4. The Wildcats made the gap bigger by scoring 13 points as Sonoma stayed behind with six points.
Once the Wildcats were at game point the Seawolves were only at 15 points. There was no hesitation from Chico and they took the set 25-15.
“That much traveling makes you tired and we didn’t play tired tonight,” Junior Bekah Boyle said.
The Seawolves came back to the third set taking an early lead with a score of 1-7. The Wildcats efforts weren’t enough, allowing the six point lead to stay up until Sonoma State scored their 12th point.
Sophomore #11 Kelley Jacome created momentum scoring the eighth point for Chico State. The Wildcats got on a run to reach a score of 19-20.
Attempting to make this their comeback set, the Wildcats kept fighting but the Seawolves won the set with a 23-25 win.
The fourth set started out promising for both squads as no team took a sizable lead. Later in the set, Sonoma State started taking the lead creating a two-point gap. Chico State was being consistent not letting themselves fall behind even more.
However, the Wildcats defense lost its structure and allowed the Seawolves to get ahead.
“There isn’t just one skill breaking down, I think it’s different things on different nights and even within sets,” Boyle said.
The point difference was never diminished and the Seawolves took the fourth set 18-25, overall beating Chico State 1-3.
The Wildcats get ready to make their last appearance on the road trip on Oct. 2 at 7 p.m. against Cal State East Bay.
Lucero Del Rayo can be reached at [email protected] or @del_rayo98 on Twitter.
