SAN BERNARDINO - The Chico State volleyball team kicked off its first CCAA road trip of the season with a daunting task: Travel to Southern California to take on the top-ranked team in the country, which also happens to be undefeated entering the match. The result was a 3-0 Wildcat loss on Cal State San Bernardino’s home court by scores of 25-22, 25-19, and 25-16.

The loss drops the Wildcats to 8-5 overall and 1-3 in CCAA play. Crystal Trifeletti led the ‘Cats with seven kills and four blocks, while Lindsay Macias recorded seven kills in 15 attempts. Makenzie Snyder led Chico State with eight digs and Abbey Ranzau added seven. Erica Brick tallied 23 assists.

San Bernardino, now 10-0 overall and 3-0 in conference play, was led by Ashtin Hall’s match-high 15 kills and Sara Rice’s 10 kills and a .529 hitting percentage. Meghan Haas led all players with 21 digs.

The Wildcats hit .176 for the match to .333 for the Coyotes.

Chico State put up a tough fight in the first set, which was tied 11 times. Chico took a 10-6 lead on a kill by Macias but CSUSB caught up at 13-13 on a kill of its own. The last tie was at 20-20.

The Wildcats also led in the second set, 10-7, but the Coyotes fought back to tie it up at 14-all before taking the lead for good.

The Coyotes jumped out to a 12-5 lead in the final set and were up 20-12 at one point.

Chico State finishes off its road trip with a match tomorrow night against Cal Poly Pomona.

BOX SCORE