SAN FRANCISCO -- The Cal State East Bay volleyball team ran its win streak to five matches on Friday evening with a four-set victory on the road at San Francisco State (25-17, 20-25, 25-19, 25-15).
The Pioneers hit .220 for the match and dominated the Gators statistically, holding them to .087 hitting and topping them in both kills (60 to 41) and digs (86 to 68).
With six matches still to play in the regular season, CSUEB has already reached 11 wins, the program's highest total in a season since 2013, which is also the last year they had a five-match winning streak.
Deja Thompson has been one of the best players in the conference over the last few weeks, and she continued that with 16 kills, three blocks, two aces and a .353 attack percentage to finish as the team's leading scorer.
Fellow sophomore
Kiki Leuteneker also tallied 16 kills on a team-high 47 attempts to go along with seven digs.
Julie Navarro and
Kathy McKiernan both reached double figures in kills as well, notching 11 each. McKiernan had a solid night in the middle, hitting .304 with a pair of solo blocks.
Katie Ireland filled up the scoresheet with 51 assists and 27 digs, both of which led all players in the match. With averages of 12.75 assists and nearly seven scoops per set, she displayed yet another impressive two-way performance.
Brandi Brucato was just behind Ireland in the defensive department, racking up 26 digs of her own.
Darlene Lee finished with 14,
Cassidy Caton dug out eight balls.
The Pioneers won the opening set handily, but the stumbled in game two. They struggled to make passes consistently, which kept them from going on a scoring rally, and the Gators were able to even the match. It was the first set SF State had won in the month of October.
East Bay regained momentum after intermission, however, riding the hot hitting of Thompson, Leuteneker, and McKiernan. They held SFSU to just 15 total kills in the final two sets combined, and they pulled away to win both of them, handing SF State its 15th straight loss and keeping them winless in league play.
CSUEB's winning streak has lifted their conference record up to 7-5, which means second place in the CCAA North Division will be on the line Saturday night when the Pioneers (11-9, 7-5 CCAA) visit Sonoma State (9-9, 7-4 CCAA) in Rohnert Park.
