The road in the CCAA is never easy and Humboldt State will see how true that is with a Friday match against 12th-ranked UC San Diego, before heading back up north for a Saturday evening affair at 13th-rated Cal State San Bernardino.

     HSU tricked at home on Halloween

     Lumberjack Arena did not turn out to be a place of many Halloween treats for HSU on the volleyball court.

     After starting strong in both of the first two sets, the Lumberjacks' tricks ended and the Pioneers of Cal State East Bay ran off the opening two game wins on the way to a 3-1 victory last Thursday night.

     HSU came on early to lead by as many as 14-8 in the first set and 9-4 in the second contest only to see Cal State East Bay ride out the tide to 26-24 and 25-23 wins.

     The Jacks battled back to a 25-21 third set, before the Pioneers took control midway through the fourth set on the way to a 25-16 match win.

     Ashley Owen was one of the bright spots for HSU with a match-high 20 kills, while hitting .436.  She also had a pair of blocks.

     Symone Hayden was the lone other double-digit kill producer for the home team with 11 to go with 10 digs. 

     Jacks storm back fall just short to Otters

     In the most exciting volleyball matches of the fall in Lumberjack Arena, Humboldt State came up just short in an extended fifth set to Cal State Monterey Bay last Saturday night.

     After three of the first four sets were decided by the minimum two points, it was fitting the fifth and final set between the two CCAA foes would go extra points.

     The visiting Otters led by as many as three points two times, 9-6 and 10-7, before Ashley Owen killed her fifth and sixth set five kills along with one apiece from Symone Hayden and Kaitlyn Dunaway for a 14-14 deadlock.

     Alex Hasenstab made it three-straight HSU points on a solo block for a 15-14 lead and would minutes later down a kill for a tie at 16.

     The Otters two top hitters, Jessica Malcolm and Julia Ashen, belted kills from there to seal the victory and 18-16 game five total.

     HSU split the first two sets, 25-23 and 23-25, before Cal State Monterey Bay went up a set by taking the third 25-18.

     Owen killed three of the last four points of the fourth set for a 27-25 score to send the match to the game-deciding fifth.

     Renshaw serving it up

     A collegiate athlete makes their biggest strides in their athletic careers from the freshman to sophomore years.  Second-year libero Kelci Renshaw is accomplishing this task, along with making a position transfer this fall.

     After being a setter throughout high school and her first year with the Jacks, Renshaw has made a steady improvement over the course of the 2013 season.

     The Hawaii-native has become HSU's best and one of the top CCAA servers as well as a steady passer on defense.  Renshaw has worked her way up the league's serving charts to her current second position with 0.39 aces per set.  In fact, she laced two aces against both Cal State East Bay and Cal State Monterey Bay last week.

     Renshaw also accounted for 40 digs on defense including a high of 27 against Cal State Monterey Bay.  She has moved up to being tied for ninth in the CCAA with 357 digs and second on the Jacks team now only 10 behind Kaitlyn Dunaway.

    Owen leads other HSU players in CCAA stats

     Along with Renshaw, the steady and many times hard to stop Ashley Owen lead the other HSU players in the CCAA individual stat leaders.

     The junior outside hitter produced a pair of 20-kill efforts where she hit .333 with 41 kills in 93 swings -- she downed 20 against Cal State East Bay and another 21 kills including six in the fifth set versus Cal State Monterey Bay.

     Owen has moved into fourth in the conference with 346 kills on the year, while hitting a team-best .244

     Setter Sam Siebert rates 5th in assists per set (9.75) and Kaitlyn Dunaway is 7th in digs (367) and 10th in digs per set (3.95).

     HSU's CCAA 8th weekend road action foes...

     
    at #12 UC San Diego (20-3/12-3 CCAA)
     (Fri. at 7 p.m. in La Jolla)

     Series History: UCSD leads 14-1

     Last meeting: UCSD won 3-1 in Arcata on Oct. 5 -- (15-25, 25-22, 24-26, 18-25) UCSD was led by Sophie Rowe and Sara McCutchan with 15 kills apiece.  Brittany Lombardi had 25 digs and Heidi Sierks 49 assists ... HSU 

received 17 kills and two blocks from Ashley Owen with Kaitlyn Dunaway having 14 kills, 17 digs and two blocks

     Last HSU win: 3-0 in first meeting of 2011 in Arcata

     *Coached by Ricci Luyties in his 4th season

     *Tritons have won their last four matches by taking 12 of the last 15 sets.

     *Compiled a 10-1 home mark which was the last loss on Oct. 19th to Cal State Los Angeles, 3-2

     *Went 11-1 since Sept. 27 and dropped only 14 sets in those 12 matches

     *Kameron Cooper is 2nd in CCAA for blocks per set (1.15) -- 91 on the year with 82 block assists -- Caitlin Brenton is 4th in the same category (1.01)

     *Brittany Lombardi is 3rd in both digs (438) and digs per set (5.09) in the league

     *Sara McCutchan is 4th in hitting percentage at .349

     at #13 Cal State San Bernardino (18-5/14-1 CCAA)
     (Sat. at 7 p.m. in San Bernardino)

     Series History: CSUSB leads 14-7

     Last meeting: CSUSB won 3-0 on Oct. 3 in Arcata -- (21-25, 15-25, 28-30) Ashley Solis hit 13 kills, while Brenna McIntosh had four kills, four block assists and four digs for CSUSB ... Symone Hayden led HSU with 13 kills and 10 digs with Ashley Owen having 12 kills

     Last HSU win: 3-0 in Arcata for first 2011 meeting

     *Coached by Kim Cherniss since 1997 with a 424-73 record over that time period

     *Swept two matches last weekend -- 3-0 over Cal State Stanislaus & 3-2 over Chico State -- after #14 Sonoma State snapped the Coyotes 13-match win streak

     *Tori May paces the CCAA with a .388 hitting percentage with 232 kills

     *Brenna McIntosh is the conference's leader at 1.36 blocks per set and 2nd in hitting percentage (.353)

     *Arielle McCullough rated 2nd in digs (447) and 4th in digs per set (5.08)

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