Traveling from San Bernardino to Arcata is one of the longest distance California Collegiate Athletic Association teams can cover. The Chico State women’s volleyball squad made that trip and came out fast to seize the first set, then faltered three times, giving the Humboldt State Lumberjacks a victory. The Wildcats lost 29-27, 20-25, 18-25, and 18-25.

A tightly contested opening set needed extra points to decide a winner, and the ‘Cats hung on to take it 29-27. From then on it was all Lumberjacks.

The ‘Jacks evened the match at one set each with with 20-25 win and didn’t stop there. They were in firm control the rest of the way, taking the third and fourth sets in 18-25 fashion.

The win was a sweet one for the Lumberjacks, who have struggled mightily against Chico State in recent years. The Wildcats had won 13 of the last 14 meetings between the teams and bested the ‘Jacks in their two matches in 2013.

“In the first set we clocked 19 kills which strongly contributed to our win. After the first set we struggled to terminate the ball,” said assistant coach David Irving after the match.

Irving was referring to the ‘Cats only managing to hit at a .187 percentage for the match. The ‘Cats also had four less service aces and four more reception errors than the home squad.

Setter Tory Thompson piled up 45 assists and a team high 20 digs. Shannon Boling and Lindsay Quigley put down 15 and 12 kills respectively. Freshman Olivia Mediano pitched in with seven kills and 10 digs.

The ‘Cats next match is a mid-week tilt on the road against CSU-Stanislaus on October 1st before returning home October 3rd to take on CSU-Dominguez Hills.

Nick Reddy can be reached at [email protected] or @NickIsReddy on Twitter.