Published 2008-09-17T00:00:00Z”/>
Julian Williamson
–<em>See video of the weekends games at the bottom of this page</em>–
The women’s volleyball team opened up the long-awaited California Collegiate Athletic Association season Friday night with a 3-0 win against visiting Humboldt State, but later fell 3-2, losing its first home game of the year to Sonoma State on Saturday.
In their first conference game, the 25th-ranked Wildcats mowed over Humboldt State, 25-15, 25-23 and 25-15, in front of a lively and vocal home crowd.
Strong showings from key Wildcats kept the momentum on the Chico State side throughout the match. Junior outside hitter Gillian Heydorff had 13 kills and senior outside hitter Megan Cape and sophomore middle blocker Crystal Trifeletti had nine kills apiece.
Senior setter Erica Brick led both rosters in assists, adding another 37 to her assist record and tying with Cape for a team-high seven digs.
Head coach Cody Hein took notice of the energy and determination his team brought to the court, he said.
“It was a great game tonight – about as efficient as I’ve seen my team play in a long time,” Hein said. “They were looking forward to play, and it’s conference time.”
The scores were relatively close at the start of each set, but the Wildcats managed to leave the Lumberjacks of Humboldt State behind in three straight sets.
However, things almost came crashing down at the end of set two. The Wildcats nearly lost momentum and the set by allowing a 5-0 run with a 24-18 lead. A bad serve by the Lumberjacks finally ended the set.
The competition Saturday night was a different beast, as the Sonoma State Seawolves came to Acker Gym.
Both teams had similar game plans, focusing on an individual setter, strong backcourt defense, offensive power coming mostly from four players and six serving aces each.
Set one went in the Wildcats’ favor, 25-23, but the Seawolves fired back in set two, 25-22. Then, the momentum shifted to the Wildcats when they pulled out a late surge to secure a 27-25 victory. However, Sonoma State took the final two sets, 25-22 and 15-7.
The Wildcats, winning 3-0 late, were forced to go the distance, a 15-point deciding set, but ran out of steam and fell short.
“I think that second game was a little bit of an eye-opener,” Trifeletti said. “It definitely got us pumped up, but we just got a little tired toward the end.”
The match wasn’t one-sided until the tail end of set five, when the Seawolves led 9-6 and went on a 6-1 run to close out the set and the night. With the exception of set five, the score never went more than five points in either team’s favor, keeping the sets close.
Saturday night’s competition also featured some of the longest volleys the Wildcats had experienced this season, which Hein credits to both sides having such strong defenses, he said.
“The play out there was the product of two good defensive teams,” Hein said. “We are a very good defensive team, but we ran into a very good defensive team. Their ability to keep the ball alive frustrated us a little, and we didn’t adjust well.”
There were 108 digs on the Sonoma State side and 122 for the ‘Cats. Senior outside hitter Lindsay Macias led the night with 31, followed by freshman outside hitter Makenzie Snyder, who had 21, and Brick, who tallied 19.
As the foundation for the Chico State offense, Brick managed a match-high 53 assists in five sets, again adding to her record total of more than 3,500.
The Wildcats won’t return to Acker Gym until Oct. 1, but their next two games are on the road against No. 1-ranked Cal State San Bernardino on Sept. 19 and No. 23 Cal Poly Pomona on Sept. 20.
Julian Williamson can be reached at<a href= “mailto:[email protected]”>[email protected]</a>
<em>Video by Matt Bouvet</em>
<strong>Related links</strong><a href= “http://www.csuchico.edu/athletics/vb/stats/csucvb11.htm”>Box scores from Sept. 12</a><a href= “http://www.csuchico.edu/athletics/vb/stats/csucvb12.htm”>Box scores from Sept. 13</a><a href= “http://www.chicowildcats.com/schedule.aspx?path=wvball&”>Volleyball schedule</a>
