ARCATA, Calif. – Following a week of recovery and adjusting back to Pacific Time, the Humboldt State volleyball team (2-2) will return to competition with three California Collegiate Athletic Association road games this week.
 
"We start conference on Wednesday at San Marcos, and the girls feel prepared and are fired up," said Head Coach Kelly Wood. "We are going in there knowing we are good, we can compete, and we want to get out there and get to it."
 
Humboldt opens conference play at San Marcos on Wednesday, followed by trips to Cal Poly Pomona on Thursday and Cal State Monterey Bay on Saturday.
 
Last season, HSU went 2-0 against Cal Poly Pomona and 1-1 against Cal State Monterey Bay, winning the road match against both schools. This will be the first ever meeting between Cal State San Marcos and Humboldt State.

Rather than participating in another tournament or traveling for games last weekend, Coach Wood felt that the team would benefit from staying on campus and practicing. This plan allowed HSU to avoid a quick turnaround after another long weekend.

"I hope that we are rested as a result of that," added Wood. "It would have been nice to get some matches in, but more importantly we needed to stay home and rest, and it gave some girls a chance to get healthy."
 
The Lumberjacks have played just four games this season, the fewest in the CCAA to this point. Since the team was not on the road, practice this past week was spent preparing for the conference slate.
 
"We worked a lot in our setting and the connection between our setters and our hitters," said Wood. "We also worked on blocking. We are a smaller team, but I made it clear that despite our size, we can be be a dominant team at the net both offensively and defensively."
 
Alondra Haro (1.13) and Alex Hasenstab (1.12) are second and third in the conference, respectively, in blocks per set.