Box Score HAYWARD, Calif. – The Cal State East Bay volleyball team lost in four sets to visiting Chico State on Saturday night at Pioneer Gym (17-25, 25-22, 25-23, 25-15). It's third straight defeat for the Pioneers (6-10, 1-8 CCAA), who won the first set of both their matches this weekend, but were unable to close out a victory. Chico State (12-4, 6-3 CCAA) had its way offensively, besting East Bay in attack percentage (.252 to .129) and team kills (56-43). The Wildcats also won the battle at the net, posting 10 total blocks to the Pioneers' five.

Cal State East Bay has had some struggles with unforced errors in recent matches, but that wasn't the main problem Saturday. The Wildcats actually committed more total errors than the Pioneers (25 attack errors, nine service errors, nine receiving errors). On this night, the East Bay had difficulty sustaining any scoring runs on offense and simply didn't have an answer for the Chico State attack.

Junior Hannah Bell led the way for the Pioneers with nine kills, 11 digs, and a .333 attack percentage. Senior Nicole Boyle and Junior Suzy Ni Xu have led the East Bay attack for most of the season, but both struggled to get going offensively against the Wildcats. Boyle posted eight kills and five digs, and Xu added seven kills, but the pair also combined for 14 attack errors.

Senior Nikki Long had some success on the outside, notching seven kills and assisting on three blocks. Junior Brittany Dominguez had six kills and two blocks, while fellow middle blocker Samantha Bruno managed four kills and three blocks. Setters Samantha Siebert and Danielle Stewart totaled 21 and 15 assists, respectively. Sophomore libero Veronica Sanchez continued her solid play, as she led the Pioneers 15 digs without a receiving error.

The Pioneers started out strong in the first set, hitting .244 as a team and cruising to a 25-17 win. It was the only set in which East Bay hit over .150 as a team. Dominguez had a huge set, posting five of her six kills without an error. The second and third sets were tight, featuring back-and-forth scoring from the two teams. Behind the outstanding play of Alex Shurtz, the Wildcats were able to pull away at the end of both sets and take the 2-1 advantage. Then they used a couple of long scoring runs to run away with the fourth set, 25-15. Chico State improved its attack percentages in each set and hit .407 in the final set to close out the match.

Shurtz, already a two-time 2012 CCAA Player of the Week, paced the Wildcats with 19 kills and added 10 digs and three solo blocks. Hannah Wilkins posted 10 kills with four blocks, and Lindsay Quigley added seven kills with just one attack error. Setter Sable Villaescusa had a particularly impressive match, filling up the scoresheet with seven kills, 42 assists, seven digs, three blocks, and zero attack errors.

The Pioneers are back on the road next week with two matches down in southern California. Still in search of their first CCAA victory away from Pioneer Gym, East Bay will visit defending champion Cal State San Bernardino on Friday and UC San Diego on Saturday.