The Chico State Women’s Volleyball team came in hot this past weekend with two high-energy games, taking the win Friday against Cal State Monterey Bay and losing to San Francisco State during Saturday’s game at Acker Gym.  

Coming back from a hard loss in Los Angeles the previous weekend, Chico claimed a win from Cal STate in an exciting game Friday evening. Showing off their efforts in a five set game, they ended up winning 3-2. 

The Wildcats had the advantage halfway through the game, becoming more aggressive throughout. They ended with a total 176 attacks overall compared to the Otters 164. 

Chico was originally down the first two sets of the game, but miraculously won three decisive sets in a row, resulting in a win against the Otters with the overall scores of 22-25, 20-25, 25-22, 25-21 and 15-11. 

Grace Shepard led the game with a personal record of 20 kills, Zoe DiNardo followed closely behind her with 17 kills and freshman Nariah Prescott with 15 kills for the team. 

“It’s very exciting, I came in here with high hopes and high expectations to trigger myself as a player, you know, as a team, and just overall go through the challenges and come together as a unit,” Prescott said. 

DiNardo contributed heavily to the win, leading the Wildcats in attempted attacks against the Otters, with 51 attempts total. 

“We’re working on finding our rhythm and flow of the ball and working together, leaning on each other, that’s the biggest thing we’re working on right now,” DiNardo said. “We’re working on our consistency, communicating and just being consistent energy wise to play our game.” 

The Wildcats were humbled Saturday night against San Francisco State. Even though they kept up a great fight throughout the game with admirable defense and even better sportsmanship, the Wildcats came up short, losing three straight sets. 

DiNardo claimed 14 kills in this game and Shepard followed with another impressive gain of 13 kills. 

Bree Rodriguez and Lauryn Osendorf had good performances with their consistent blocking assists, having three each.

Additionally, Brooke Ono gained points for her team with multiple scoring digs. 

“I think we’ve just been pushing ourselves more than previous years. We are really just trying to work together to be a collective, solid unit,” Rodriguez said. “We’re just really working on trying to find our identity and play for each other rather than playing as individuals.” 

This win puts Chico at (3-8) overall for the season, and with an exciting schedule ahead of them, their next game takes place at Acker Gym Sept. 23 at 5 p.m. against Cal State East Bay. 

Julia Travers can be reached at [email protected]