HSU vs. Cal Poly Pomona
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HSU vs. Cal State San Bernardino
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ARCATA, Calif. – The offense has carried Humboldt State's volleyball team (5-3), and coach Kelly Wood is hoping the defense will fill some holes as the Lumberjacks travel to play Cal Poly Pomona Friday (7 p.m.) and Cal State San Bernardino on Saturday (7 p.m.).
 
"Our strength is our offense, and that's great," said Wood. "But our defense needs to improve in both the front row and the back row. We have to give ourselves better opportunities to make digs."
 
Seniors Symone Hayden (113 kills) and Nicole Bewley (78 kills with a .337 kill percentage) are shouldering the offensive load for the Jacks.
 
"It's not a surprise that Symone and Nicole are leading us offensively. They are both very athletic, very talented, four-year starters," Wood said. "Nicole had a couple of matches where she was hitting .700 and .800 in a match, which is unheard of. She's just very, very good. She at times can be unstoppable."
 
The Jacks showed flashes of being unstoppable last weekend, surging from a 13-6 deficit in the fifth game against Montana-Billings to win the match after the 19-17 game-five comeback victory.  Of course, they had to climb out of a hole created by the less than stellar defensive effort to that point.
 
"In the comeback against Montana, Symone was in the back row. Her ball control was great and her serve-receive was strong," Wood said. "She was digging balls and running around, picking up shots. But it's been too easy for the other side to put balls away against us, and we need to make it much more challenging."
 
The challenge only increases this weekend as HSU will take on two teams that finished in the CCAA's top four last year. Cal Poly Pomona (4-4), winners of two of its last three matches, features last year's CCAA Freshman of the Year Kristen Hamlin. Cal State San Bernardino (6-2) is on a four-match win streak with last year's Newcomer of the Year, Malika O'Brien, leading the way.
 
"Pomona returned pretty much everyone from last year except its number one setter," Wood said. "San Bernardino has a legacy they have built over the years. They graduated a lot and have a different team from last year, but it's still a very strong team. They are going to be very good, but our focus this week will be to clean up our game. Defense needs to get better, serve-receive needs to get better, our serving could be tougher, and our setting needs to be more consistent."
 
Humboldt is 3-24 all-time versus Cal Poly Pomona with two of the victories Against the Broncos coming in 2014. The Jacks are 8-17 all-time versus Cal State San Bernardino with the last victory against the Coyotes also coming in 2014.