Box Score TURLOCK – In two of its three recent losses, the Chico State volleyball team had put in five grueling sets, only to come up short of victory. The Wildcats were not about to let that happen Wednesday night at Fitzpatrick Arena, taking all three sets from Cal State Stanislaus and beating the Warriors 32-30, 25-11, 25-21.
With Wednesday's win, Chico State improved to 11-12 on the season and evened its California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) conference record at 8-8. Cal State Stanislaus dropped its third straight decision to fall to 7-17 on the season and 4-12 in CCAA play.
Alex Shurtz and Lindsay Quigley led the Wildcats' offensive attack, racking up 15 and 14 kills, respectively. Natalie Nordahl also piled up the points, registering eight kills (and posting a .667 hitting percentage on the night) while contributing four blocks. Torey Thompson dished out 38 assists; Emily Duran led the Wildcats with 16 digs, and Lauren Orozco delivered a season-high three service aces.
Chico State won a wild opening set, but Stanislaus certainly made them work for it. The Wildcats let leads of 9-4 and 20-14 get away, but with the score 24-23, Ellie Larronde appeared to deliver the kill to give the Wildcats the win. But after several minutes of conferring, the officials reversed the call, keeping the Warriors alive. Stanislaus took advantage of the reprieve to take a 25-24 lead, and in what was easily Chico State's most dramatic sequence of the season, the 'Cats survived six straight set points before Quigley came through with back-to-back kills to lock down a marathon 32-30 victory for the Wildcats. Quigley and Shurtz combined for 11 kills in the contest.
The two teams split the first 10 points of the second set, then Chico State used a Thompson ace and kills by Shurtz and Kristyn Casalino to fuel a 6-0 run to put the Wildcats up 11-5. Stanislaus couldn't get any closer than five points the rest of the way – the 'Cats closed things out on a 14-5 run (fueled by an ace by Orozco, kills by Quigley and Ellie Larronde, and a kill and solo block by Shurtz) to win going away, 25-11.
Chico State held a slim 6-5 advantage early in the third set before kills by Quigley, Shurtz and Casalino and a combo block from Larronde/Casalino extended the 'Cats advantage to 12-7. Stanislaus battled back and stayed close – pulling to within a point on eight separate occasions – but the Wildcats never surrendered the lead, using three late Nordahl kills plus a kill and ace by Shurtz to score five of the last seven points to post the 25-21 win and the match sweep.
The Wildcats return to action this weekend, hosting No. 14 Sonoma State (20-4, 13-3 CCAA) on Friday and San Francisco State (11-13, 6-10 CCAA) Saturday at Acker Gym. First serve for both matches is scheduled for 7 p.m.
