During the Chico State Fanatics night, the women’s volleyball team had an action-packed five-set game against Cal State East Bay on Thursday that had the audience on the edge of their seats.
The game started with the first kill by Pioneer outside hitter Gianna Navarro, but because of an attack error by middle blocker Natali Herrera and a bad set by setter Pi’ilani Carvalho, the Wildcats began catching up.
The teams went back and forth, exchanging points early, but after a bad set by Carvalho, the ‘Cats were ahead at 6-4. The ‘Cats stood ahead of the Pioneers by two until outside hitter Maria Wahl made a kill with the assist from defensive specialist Jessie Camarillo.
The Pioneers stayed on their seventh point until outside hitter Barakat Adekola blocked opposite Cashe Olswang, resulting in the score 13-7.
The ‘Cats continued with the lead until a kill from Carvalho, making the score 20-17. The Pioneers attempted to catch up to the ‘Cats with a kill by Carvalho, a block by middle blocker Fane Paua on middle hitter Wyievee Binda and a service ace by defensive specialist Rebeca Freitas, but still fell short, resulting in the final score of 25-22 in the first set, with Wahl collecting 11 digs and 17 kills.
During the second set, the ‘Cats started with an attack error on Navarro and a kill by Binda.
After a kill by Navarro, the Pioneers drew with the ‘Cats at two, three, four, five, and six, but then the ‘Cats were able to pull ahead and stayed there for the rest of the game.
Olswang and Binda both blocked a spike attempt by outside hitter Adekola, resulting in a ninth point for the ‘Cats..
The ‘Cats had learned early in the match that Adekola was a quick hitter, but they struggled to block and dig her hits during the second set.
“After the second or third set, she already had 30 attempts. As a middle blocker, I’m in charge of blocking all three hitters. She hits really fast, she almost hits as fast as the middle, that’s why it’s really hard to block, especially when you have two fast hits next to each other,” middle hitter Gwyneth Wentzel said.
The ‘Cats fought on, leading the rest of the game to win the second set 25-23. Binda had 13 total hitting attempts with one block, and Olswang had 14 kills and three blocks.
During the third set, the first point went to the Pioneers from a kill by Adekola, and the ‘Cats trailed for the rest of the set, but were determined to catch up.
At a climax point in the third set, Adekola hit the ball, bouncing off outside hitter Sophia Heller’s right hand and flying out, leading setter Claire Nordeen to chase after the ball and to bump it back in. Camarillo called the ball for herself, sending it back over the net to the Pioneers to keep the point alive.
Pioneer head coach Kimberly Lambert made a late challenge on Heller for a ball-handling error, which the ref agreed with, resulting in the score of 21-19.
Heller played both a strong defense and offense with 13 digs and eight kills, whereas Nordeen recorded 16 digs and 43 assists in the match.
The ‘Cats followed closely behind the Pioneers, extending the set, but with kills by Pioneers outside hitter Malayah Adams, Paua and a service ace from Freitas, the third set ended at 27-25.
During the fourth set, the ‘Cats jumped out to a 4-0 lead until Herrera made a kill for the Pioneers. But the ‘Cats stayed ahead of the Pioneers with the help of their attack and their opponent’s ball-handling errors.
Wahl and Olswang led the ‘Cats with back-to-back kills, with a couple of assisted kills by Binder and Heller, creating a ten-point lead.
The Pioneers began to redeem themselves by gaining four last-minute points before setter Trinity Cox served the ball out of the court, resulting in the final score of 25-18.
Olswang made the first points in the fifth set with back-to-back kills before Heller made an attacking error. Heller made the next kill, and Olswang made a service ace to push the ‘Cats ahead.
The ‘Cats held an eight-point lead over the Pioneers after kills by Wentzel, Nordeen and Wahl.
Heller dove for the ball in the back row, bouncing onto her stomach and knocking the wind out of herself, but it didn’t stop her from finishing out the contest. Shortly after, Nordeen made a kill for the ‘Cats after receiving the ball from Heller.
For the last point of the game, the ‘Cats received a hard serve but Olswang delivered the kill to win the set 15-9, and to close a hard-fought match.
With an 11-13 overall and 7-10 conference record, the ‘Cats will host San Francisco State on Saturday at 3 p.m for their Senior Day season finale.
For information about all Chico State athletics, or to keep up with the game live, visit the Wildcat home page, or watch through FloSports.
Malisse Busby can be reached at [email protected].
