On the night before Halloween, a handful of fans couldn't resist showing up at Acker Gym to show off their colorful costumes. The Chico State volleyball team, though, offered few treats to the faithful Friday, as a dozen or so determined women dressed up as Cougars came to town and thoroughly ruined the festivities. Cal State San Marcos, winners of just two of its last 17 matches, handed the Wildcats a 23-25, 20-25, 19-25 defeat to send Chico State to its third straight loss.
The Wildcats slipped to 16-9 on the season and into a tie with San Francisco State for sixth place in the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) with an 8-7 conference record. Cal State San Marcos improved to 6-18 overall and 3-12 in CCAA play with Friday's victory.
With five regular season matches remaining, Chico State still controls its own destiny for grabbing one of the eight berths in next month's CCAA Championship Tournament. The 'Cats have some big challenges ahead, though, with the top three teams in the conference – Sonoma State, Cal State San Bernardino and UC San Diego – still to play.
Ashton Kershner led the Wildcats with 11 kills Friday, with Olivia Mediano contributing 10 kills and nine digs. Torey Thompson dished out 33 assists, while Shannon Cotton racked up a team-high 13 digs on the night.
Friday's first set was a back-and-forth affair early on, but with the score tied at 10-all, San Marcos went on an 8-2 run to open up a six-point cushion. The Wildcats immediately climbed back into the contest, thanks mainly to five Cougars miscues, to knot things up at 18-apiece. With the score tied 21-21, San Marcos scored up three of the next four points to regain the lead, and though Chico State survived one set point on a Kershner kill, the Cougars closed out the set on a 'Cats error to win 25-23.
San Marcos led nearly the entire way in the second set. A Kershner kill and a service ace by McKenna Carroll put the Wildcats in front early 3-2, but the Cougars took total control with an 18-7 run to go up 20-10. Chico State scored 10 of the next 14 points – highlighted by three Shannon Boling kills and two by Kershner – to creep to within 24-20, but Brooke Butler delivered the deciding kill for San Marcos to give the Cougars a 25-20 victory.
The two teams split the first 18 points of the third set before San Marcos slowly and steadily built a lead it would not relinquish. A 9-2 run put the Cougars up 18-11, and despite service aces by Thompson and Anu Munkhtur and late kills by Mediano, Boling, Kershner and Anna Baytosh, the Wildcat could get no closer than five points the rest of the way, as San Marcos went on to score a 25-19 win and the match sweep.
Chico State is back in action next weekend, hosting No. 19 Cal State San Bernardino Friday and UC San Diego on Saturday at Acker Gym. Both matches will get underway at 7 p.m.
