Chico State Volleyball suffers fourth straight loss Saturday night, falling in four sets to California State University, Los Angeles. Though facing the 24th ranked team in the nation, Chico was off to a promising start after the first set. The four sets played ended 25-20, 19-25, 23-25, 20-25.
Kim Wright had a strong performance logging 12 kills to go along with 7 blocks. Kelley Jacome came through with 10 kills and 2 blocks of her own. Golden Eagles’ Karla Santos was virtually unstoppable on the night totaling 19 kills with 13 digs.
The first set was an impressive showing for the Wildcats, controlling the lead the majority of the set. After a back and forth match with the scored tied at six, Chico went on a bright 8-4 run and never lost the cushion from there.
Cal State LA responded seamlessly after the first set loss, looking like a completely different team. They were able to pick Chico’s defense apart taking a 10 point lead.
Chico State seemed to have their feet underneath them opening the third set. They rocketed off to a 10-5 start with all the momentum swinging in their favor. A 6-1 run jolted the Golden Eagles back into the competition. Chico State could not stop the barrage of points allowing another 5-0 run to end the third set.
Chico State battled in the fourth set, desperately trying to extend the match. The intensified competition featured 7 lead changes between the squads. The back and forth scoring affair lasted late in the set at 19-20. Los Angeles ultimately muscled their way to scoring 5 of the last 6 points of the match.
The loss pushes Chico State back to 3rd place in the conference, tied with Sonoma State. Their schedule gets much tougher as they will head on the road next weekend to face Humboldt and Sonoma State.
Wesley Harris can be reached at [email protected] or @jiggy_wes on twitter.
