Box Score ARCATA, Calif. – The Cal State East Bay volleyball team secured its second conference road win of the year with a four-set victory over Humboldt State Thursday night (20-25, 27-25, 25-20, 25-17). The Pioneers (10-13, 5-11 CCAA) dropped the first set to the Jacks (2-21, 0-16 CCAA), but they erased that deficit and overcame pedestrian team attack percentages to complete the season sweep of Humboldt State.

The Jacks came out swinging in the first set, trying to defend their home turf. They hit .297 – by far the highest single-set attach percentage of the match for either team – and rode the strong play of Channel Washington to a 25-20 win. Humboldt State went ahead early in the second set and even led 23-17. East Bay then went on a 7-0 run to take a one-point lead and hung on to win in extra points. The Pioneers controlled the match after that, winning the final two sets by substantial margins.

East Bay hit just .152 for the match and did not top the .200 mark in any of the four sets. It was enough on this night, however, as the Jacks struggled on the attack after the first set. The Pioneers forced 37 attack errors from their opponents in addition to 12 service errors. Humboldt State posted negative attack percentages in the last two sets and hit just .044 for the match.

When asked how his team was able to turn things around in the second set, head coach Jim Spagle joked, “We did what we do best and started playing within our systems instead of chasing the waterfalls up here in Humboldt County.” He added, “I'm just glad to get out of here with a win.”

The Jacks really had no answer for East Bay's leading attacker, Suzy Ni Xu. The junior led all players with 16 kills and also hit .361 with three blocks. Xu scored 17.5 points for the Pioneers in this match, more than twice as many as any of her teammates.

Xu was the only Pioneer with double-digit kills, but the team did have four players surpass the 10-dig mark. Nicole Boyle had four kills and a team-high 15 scoops, while Hannah Bell added eight kills and 11 digs. Libero Veronica Sanchez had a relatively quiet night with 14 digs as the Jacks served away from her much of the match.

Jade Sanford notched six kills for East Bay and led the team for the second straight match with four total blocks. Danielle Stewart was impressive as the only Pioneer to post a double-double. She dug out 12 balls and led the team with 18 assists. Setting counterpart Samantha Siebert added 13 assists and six digs of her own.

For the Jacks, Washington and Alexa Rosendale both totaled double-digit kills with 14 and 10, respectively. Rosendale added 18 digs and three aces. However, the pair needed a combined 92 attack attempts to get those kills, and they committed 22 attack errors in the meantime.

The Pioneers have a long drive back to the bay area tomorrow before they hop on a plane for Southern California. East Bay will take on Cal Poly Pomona on Saturday night with a chance to win back-to-back road matches for the first time this year. The first serve is scheduled for 7 p.m.