Box Score Hayward, Calif. -- The Cal State East Bay volleyball team lost its conference opener in three sets to San Francisco State Friday night (25-22, 25-22, 25-17). The first two sets were extremely close, but the Pioneers were unable to overcome an uncharacteristically high number of unforced errors. The team falls to 5-3, with another big road CCAA match Saturday night at Sonoma State.

San Francisco State (6-2, 1-0 CCAA) racked up 44 kills against the Pioneers' 24 and was able to overcome 23 attack errors to secure the win. Cal State East Bay out-blocked the Gators 8-1, but committed 13 service errors and eight receiving errors.

"We did not play close to where my expectations are of this team," head coach Jim Spagle said after the match. "We literally gave SF State 21 points, almost one full set. Serving and receiving should be a strength of this team, but tonight they were a huge liability."

One of the few bright spots for the Pioneers was sophomore Samantha Bruno, who posted six total blocks to go along with two kills. Senior Nicole Boyle was Cal State East Bay's leading attacker with seven kills, and she also added 11 digs. Juniors Suzy Ni Xu and Hannah Bell notched five kills each. Sophomore libero Veronica Sanchez had a team-high 17 digs, and junior setter Samantha Seibert racked up 17 assists to go along with nine digs. 

The match was tight early on. In each of the first two sets, the Pioneers got off to hot starts, grabbing the lead. And in each set, the score reached 22-22 before the Gators took control at the end to grab the victories. They finished off the match by winning nine of the final 12 points in the third set and cruising to a 25-17 win.

Cal State East Bay was unable to contain the Gator attack trio of Meagan Wright, Megan Johnson, and Kelly Ostello, who combined for 31 kills – more than the entire East Bay squad. Johnson had the match's only double-double with 11 kills and 12 digs.

Coach Spagle noted the substantial difference in team kills for the match (44-24 in favor of SF State) as an area of concern. "We are really struggling to connect our sets with our attackers," he said. "This is a disappointing loss, but we need to come back and play much better against maybe the best team in the conference tomorrow night."

The Pioneers will not have long to dwell on the defeat, nor will they spend much time at 0-1 in the CCAA. Cal State East Bay continues its conference-opening road trip Saturday at 7 p.m. against Sonoma State.