CHICO, Calif. – For the second consecutive night, the Humboldt State volleyball team was involved in a match where neither team won consecutive sets. Unlike Friday's victory over Stanislaus State where the Lumberjacks (5-5, 3-3) won the odd sets, HSU was only able to win the second and fourth sets on Saturday against Chico State (12-4, 4-2), and fell in the California Collegiate Athletic Association matchup 3-2 (21-25, 25-22, 22-25, 25-23, 12-15).
 
"Another CCAA battle tonight and unfortunately we came up short," said Head Coach Kelly Wood. "Our girls played so hard again tonight, but we failed to execute at times and that was the difference."
 
The match began fairly evenly, with the Jacks down just one point through the first 15 in set one. The Wildcats then scored three consecutive to build up a small cushion at 11-7. HSU clawed back to bring it within one again at 12-13 and 16-17, but Chico State rattled off four straight to build the set's largest lead at 16-21. The lead remained as Chico State claimed the opening game on their home court, 25-21.
 
Down a game, the Jacks knew the importance of opening the second with some urgency. HSU earned the first four points, three of which came from back-to-back-to-back kills by Alex Hasenstab. Chico responded, and tied the set for the first time at 10 apiece, before taking the set lead at 13-12. Still a one-point game at 15-16, the Jacks retook the lead with three straight and would not trail again for the remainder of the set, despite Chico tying it at 20-20. A kill by Symone Hayden gave HSU the 25-22 set win going into intermission.
 
Humboldt saw an 8-5 lead evaporate in the third set as Chico State mixed in runs of five and six unanswered to go up 21-11. The Jacks showed resiliency and clawed back into it, 24-22, before ultimately dropping the set on the next play.
 
In a must-win fourth set, the Jacks opened the game accounting for the first four points. Like the rest of the match, this set was never going to be a runaway. The Wildcats quickly took the lead, 7-5. Humboldt State responded and took back the lead at 9-8 and used a 6-0 run to build it up to 14-9. The lead grew to as large as eight, at 19-11, before Chico State tightened the gap and eventually tied the score at 22-22. HSU scored three of the last four points and forced a decisive fifth set on Kaitlyn Dunaway's kill.
 
The final set began with five different tie scores through 8-8. Chico State then scored five unanswered to bring the Wildcats within two of the victory. A timeout by Wood resulted in a response from her team, scoring four straight and bringing the match to 12-13. The Wildcats then earned the final two points and won the match, 15-12.
 
"We are going to have a couple days of rest after a grueling month of September," said Wood. "We have two very good teams coming to Lumberjack Arena this week, and we need to take some time to rest before getting back to work. We need to continue to improve everyday."
 
A long September for Humboldt State now comes to a close and the team will have an opportunity to play at home seven ties in October as opposed to just once this month. The next match will begin a three-game home stand and will be played at Lumberjack Arena on Oct. 1 against UC San Diego.