Box Score HAYWARD, Calif. --- Pioneer Gym was rocking on Friday night as the Cal State East Bay volleyball team pulled off a stunning upset, toppling No. 11 Sonoma State in five sets (25-19, 13-25, 25-21, 17-25, 15-12). The victory snaps a six-match losing streak for the Pioneers (7-11, 3-7 CCAA) and ends an eight-match winning streak for the Seawolves (15-3, 8-2 CCAA).

Katie Allen had an excpetional night for East Bay, hitting .471 with 19 kills, five digs, and two service aces. She was the team's go-to attacker when they needed a point throughout the back-and-forth match. Kitona Offord added 12 kills and six total blocks in one of her best performances of the season. 

"Katie had a phenomenal match; it was as good as I've seen her play," said head coach Jim Spagle. "It was really one of the best individual matches I've seen here by a Cal State East Bay Pioneer. Kitona also did a great job tonight. It was a huge win for us."

Hannah Bell had nine kills and seven digs for the Pioneers. Suzy Ni Xu posted eight kills, six digs, and three total blocks. Samantha Bruno added four kills and tallied five total blocks. Ashia Joseph had an even 50 assists on the night, while Veronica Sanchez led all players in the match with 24 digs.

Statistically, it was an extremely tight contest. Sonoma State edged out the Pioneers in total kills (59 to 57) and hitting percentage (.257 to .242), but East Bay had the edge in total digs (58-53). The Pioneers also racked up 13 blocks to the Seawolves' nine. There were 26 total service errors between the teams.

"We out-dig them for the match, which was big." added Spagle. "That's been a key for us. We also did a really nice job blocking, which prevented Sonoma from putting together any big rallies."

East Bay outplayed Sonoma pretty thoroughly in the first set, but they committed several service errors that kept the score tight early. Trailing by one, the Pioneers managed a 10-5 run that gave them a 20-16 lead. Caylie Sietz notched a couple of kills for the Seawolves in a late rally, but East Bay won the final three points of the set.

Sonoma State looked like it had righted the ship in the second set. They came out and hit .371 with one attack error. After jumping out to a 15-6 lead, they closed the set on a 6-1 run and ran away with the 25-13 victory. 

CSUEB rallied right back, however. They hit a staggering .560 as a team in the third frame to reclaim momentum. With the score tied 12-12, they rattled off six straight points and never relinquished the lead. The third game was not without substantial drama, though. Sietz scored four of her team's final six points on kills as the Seawolves cut the lead to 20-19. But Xu, Allen, and Offord each slammed home a kill, and the set ended on a Seawolf service error. 

Sonoma bounced back once again and claimed the fourth set, however, refusing to be put away. The Seawolves hit .345 in the frame as the East Bay offense stumbled. The Pioneers recorded just eight kills and were unable to mount a comeback as the visitors forced a fifth and deciding set.

Sonoma grabbed a 4-1 lead in the final game, but the Pioneers rallied right back, and a kill by Amber Hall made it 4-4.The teams continued to trade points and switched sides with the Seawolves clinging to an 8-7 lead. From there, the Pioneers made their winning move by capturing the next five points, which included two kills by Allen. Sonoma rallied, but Bell squashed any momentum the visitors might have had by blasting an incredible kill from the back row to make it 14-11. A final service error by the Seawolves gave East Bay the upset victory as the team rushed the court in celebration.  

Sietz hit .396 and finished with 22 kills for the Seawolves, while Kelsey Hull notched 15 kills and 11 digs.

The Pioneers are back in action Saturday night for the annual Battle of the Bay against San Francisco State at 7 p.m.