The Lumberjacks look to get back on track after having a tough 1-2 run of contests played over four days including finishing at 11th-ranked Sonoma State on Satuday night.

     HSU needs to take advantage of the the home matches to push its mark from the .500 mark of 8-8 back to having a winning overall record by hosting Cal State Stanislaus on Thursday and Chico State on Saturday.

      Jacks stymie losing run over Gators

     For what has been the calling card of most of the season victories, HSU started slow and took off from there.  

    The Jacks dropped the opening set before claiming the next three contests for their fifth victory in that fashion last Friday against San Francisco State.

          The visiting Jacks turned up its defensive effort with 82 digs and 14 total blocks to spur the win.

     In what was her best overall night of the season, freshman Symone Hayden downed 16 kills, hit .282 and dug 21 digs.

     Libero Kelci Renshaw added her season-best 23 digs with Kaitlyn Dunaway chipping in 21 digs and nine kills.

     Ashley Owen downed 17 kills and four block assists.

    11th-ranked Seawolves take Jacks

     For the third time in the last five matches, HSU faced a nationally-ranked opponent.  Unfortunately the end result was the same as the previous two rated foe contests.

     After moving up a spot in Monday's weekly AVCA poll, the 11th-ranked Sonoma State Seawolves claimed HSU as its latest victim on the court in a 3-0 sweep.

     The Jacks held a lead until midway into the third set of 10-5. SSU, though, answered with seven points in a row to edge in front, 12-10, and rode the run to an eventual 25-21 third victory.

    Coach Wood's Comments on last weekend:

     "We ended the weekend with a split against SSU and SFSU.  The San Francisco State match was a very hard fought battle, and we showed great resiliency in that match after losing the first set badly, then coming back to win three straight.  We had much better offensive balance, and our defense picked it up after set one.  We had three players with over 20 digs, which was necessary in order to beat that tough Gator team. 

     "SSU is a very good team, they play consistently well, make very few mistakes, and have excellent pin hitters that are very tough to stop.  We played an up and down match, and played them tough at times, but we were unable to sustain a consistent level of play against them."

     Middle blockers stepping up

     It is not always easy for true freshmen to make their marks on a collegiate team.  This has not been the case for the middle blocker tandem of Courtney Debrunner and Alex Hasenstab for the Jacks this season.

     The pair has lived up to their position title of blockers.  The two Jacks have recorded 50.3% of the team's total blocks on the season.

      Debrunner holds the slim team lead of 41 to 37 over Hasenstab.  The Petaluma, Calif. native has 96 kills to go with her team-best block total, while lining four service aces.

     Hasenstab has contributed over a kill per set of her own at 1.17 for 74 kills over 63 sets.  The former scholastic outside hitter has handed out six assists.

     Siebert holding steady in setter ranks

     Running the HSU offense, Sam Siebert moved into the top five setters of the CCAA and is holding steady.  The lone Jacks senior is fifth in assists per game at 10.18 with a team-high 510 assists over 50 sets played.

     Coach Wood's Comments on this weekend:

     "This week we start out with Cal State Stanislaus on Thursday, they are another very young team, with excellent defense.  Like every other team in this conference, we need to have everyone show up and play well if we want to be successful against them."

     "We have Chico on Saturday, and they are very good as well.  They run a very fast tempo offense, and we have struggled against teams like this previously, but we will be ready for the challenge this weekend.  We have shown time and again that we can compete with everyone in this conference, and we are looking forward to hosting two tough opponents this weekend."     

     HSU's CCAA 5th weekend action foes...

     vs. Cal State Stanislaus (5-12/2-7 CCAA)
     (Thur. at 7 p.m. at Lumberjack Arena)

     Series History: HSU leads 44-20
     Last meeting: CSUS won 3-0 at Arcata last Oct. 20
     CCAA Preseason Poll: 11th 
     2012 Record: 9-21/6-16 CCAA

     *Last HSU win: 3-2 in Arcata in 2nd meeting of the 2008 season

     *Coached by Christina Lore in her 9th season

     *Warriors snapped a five-game losing streak on last Saturday night, 3-0, over CSU Dominguez Hills behind Blair Ehrlich's 12 kills, 11 digs and a block assist and Hannah Green's 27 assists, three aces and two block assists.

     *1-5  in road matches with one win coming in a 3-2 victory at Cal State Monterey Bay

     *Before last Saturday's match, Warriors had only won three sets of their last 18.

     *Libero Sarah Crowl leads the CCAA in digs per set (5.46) and digs (333)

     *Other key players: Ehrlich (196 K, 167 D), Paige Walker 143 kills & Molly Massengale 41 total blocks.

     vs. Chico State (8-8/5-4 CCAA)
     (Sat. at 7 p.m. in Lumberjack Arena)
     
    ** Dig for a Cure Night ** 

     Series History: Chico St. leads 41-21 
     Last meeting: Chico St. won 3-1 last Oct. 18 in Arcata
     CCAA Preseason Poll: 5th
    2012 Record: 19-10/13-9 CCAA

     *Last HSU win: 3-2 in 1st meeting of 2011 season in Chico

     *Coached by 11th year coach Cody Hein - most wins in program history with a 173-127 mark

     *Wildcats split their home matches last week with a 3-2 loss to Cal State Los Angeles and a 3-0 shutout of CSU Dominguez Hills.

     *Team is 2-4 over the last three weeks

     *Won four of seven road matches

     *Ellie Larronde leads with 244 kills (4th in CCAA) and sits 3rd in kills per set (4.00)

     *Lindsay Quigley is 2nd in CCAA hitting percentage at .357 with 186 kills

     *Setter Torey Thompson leads the conference by handing out 11.16 assists per set

     *Molly Ratto is 5th in CCAA with 0.34 aces per set