ARCATA, Calif. – The Humboldt State women's volleyball team was unable to defeat first-place Sonoma State on Tuesday night, losing in straight sets (22-25, 20-25, 16-25). Fortunately for the Lumberjacks (6-7, 4-5), the two California Collegiate Athletic Association teams have a rematch scheduled in Sonoma (11-3, 4-0) for Saturday night.
"Sonoma State is a good team and they are in first place, solely now, for a reason," said Head Coach
Kelly Wood. "We need to end points better, but that is not easy to do in this conference."
The first set looked to have a turning point for the Jacks, who had trailed 14-6. Led by the serving of seniors
Kaitlyn Dunaway and
Haley Biles, Humboldt went on an 8-1 run to take the lead at 16-15. Sonoma State responded with four unanswered and carried the cushion until the end of the set. The Green and Gold fought off three-straight set points, but could not fully climb back into the game, losing 25-22.
The beginning of the second set was back-and-forth as the Jacks and Seawolves were tied at 13 apiece. HSU scored four unanswered to build up its biggest lead of the match, but a 6-0 run brought Sonoma right back in front and allowed the visitors to hold on for the 25-20 victory.
After jumping out to an early lead of 12-10 in the third set, the Jacks could not stop the Seawolves from scoring seven unanswered to go up 17-12. After the teams traded off points to get to 19-14, Sonoma State added another big run of five straight to bring themselves to match point. The Jacks, behind a
Kaitlyn Dunaway kill, fought off the first match point, but Sonoma was able to finish on the next sequence.
HSU will continue its difficult stretch, having to face this same first-place team on the road this weekend.
"I don't think it is good or bad, we just have to be prepared and execute better," said Wood on playing the same team twice in a row.
Wood is planning to give the team the day off on Wednesday and allow them to rest and recover before returning to practice on Thursday and Friday. The team will drive down to Sonoma on Friday evening and play the Seawolves Saturday night at 7 p.m.
