Box Score ARCATA, Calif. --- The Cal State East Bay volleyball team won its first road match of the season on Halloween night with a 3-1 victory over Humboldt State (26-24, 25-23, 21-25, 25-16). The Pioneers (8-14, 4-10 CCAA) earn a season split with the Jacks (10-12, 5-10 CCAA) and snap a three-match losing streak overall.
It was an extremely close match statistically, with HSU actually besting the Pioneers in total kills (50 to 48), assists (46 to 42) and digs (55 to 52). However, East Bay out-hit the home team .213 to .158, made 13 fewer total errors, and recorded 10 service aces.
Amber Hall led East Bay with 13 kills on the night. The junior also had five digs and hit a team-best .286.
Katie Allen added nine kills and a .261 attack percentage.
Kitona Offord notched eight kills, while fellow middle blocker
Samantha Bruno totaled seven kills and a team-high three total blocks.
Suzy Ni Xu also posted seven kills on the night. Setter
Ashia Joseph racked up an even 40 assists in the four sets. Libero
Veronica Sanchez led all players with 19 digs.
The Pioneers did an excellent job closing out sets in this match, displaying the high level of mental toughness and execution that it takes to win a tight match on the road. This was evident in the first set when the Jacks jumped out to a 17-11 lead. East Bay rallied with a 5-0 run to pull within one, and the teams traded points until Humboldt led 23-22. Joseph then went over on two, registering a huge kill to tie the game. After HSU scored an ace and an attack error to make it 24-24, the Pioneers secured the victory when Allen and
Hannah Bell slammed home consecutive kills. CSUEB won despite hitting just .081 in a set that featured 18 total attack errors from both teams.
The script was fairly similar in the second set as once again, the Jacks took an early lead, but the Pioneers got the points when it counted late in the game. HSU started with a 9-4 advantage, but East Bay countered with a 5-0 run to tie it up. The scoring remaining tight, but Humboldt was able to force several Pioneer attack errors and take a 22-19 lead, forcing head coach
Jim Spagle to take a timeout. From there, East Bay rallied to win five straight points and take a 24-22 lead. After a Jack kill, CSUEB closed out on set on a Jack service error.
Humboldt came back in the third set and played their cleanest frame of the match, hitting .259 as a team. As with the first two games, this one could have gone either way with the teams playing extremely tight. Neither squad led by more than two until the Jacks won three straight to go up 23-18. The Pioneers scored a few more points in an attempt to mount a third comeback, but they fell short, extending the match.
After three nailbiters, the Pioneers blew out the home team in the fourth set, hitting .310 and holding the Jacks to .081. Allen notched back to back aces to give East Bay a 13-9 lead in the early going. HSU rallied back and pulled within two points, but the Pioneers closed out the match on a 5-0 run, winning eight of the final nine points.
The team has Friday off to return home before catching a plane down to Southern California to take on Cal Poly Pomona on Saturday night.
