CHICO, Calif. – Tuesday night marked the final home opener for six seniors on Chico State’s volleyball team, including the University’s all-time kills leader, Lindsay Macias, and its all-time assist leader, Erica Brick. True freshman Makenzie Snyder made sure the night felt more like the beginning of a relationship with the Chico State fans than the beginning of the end, however. Snyder thrilled the Wildcat faithful by generating a surprising amount of power from her 5-foot-9 frame, pounding out a match-high 10 kills while hitting .500 to lead Chico State to a 25-17, 25-13, 25-19 victory against Simpson University.
Macias and Snyder set the tone early, combining for eight kills in 13 attempts in the first set, while the Chico State defense limited their guests to just one kill and a negative .217 hitting percentage. Macias watched from the bench for the rest of the match, cheering the efforts of Snyder, Megan Cape (nine kills, seven digs), Crystal Trifeletti (seven kills), and Kelly Smiland (seven digs), among others. Brick joined her on the sideline for the third set after the senior setter tallied 24 assists and notched four digs in the first two
sets.
That allowed another true freshman, setter Deja Hartwick, to introduce herself to the fans, and she, too, made a good first impression. The 5-foot-8 Del Norte High School product dished out 11 assists and racked up four digs in just one set.
The Chico State defense limited Simpson to just nine kills in the match and a negative .152 hitting percentage. Cape was in on three of the team's six blocks, and eight different Wildcats registered three or more digs.
The Wildcats, who moved up to No. 21 in the most recent CBS College Sports/AVCA Top 25 Poll, improved to 5-0 with the victory. They’ll hit the road to take part in the 13th Annual Premier Challenge in Denver, Colo., this weekend, where they’ll face perennial power Hawaii-Hilo and 10th-ranked Florida Southern Friday.
Chico State will return home next Tuesday to take on William Jessup before opening California Collegiate Athletic Association play that weekend against Humboldt State and Sonoma State.
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