CHICO – Brooke Ono had 44 assists throughout the day and Chico State managed to get a set win over Cal State San Marcos, but the Cougars prevented the conference match from going to a deciding set and knocked the Wildcats out in four games (17-25, 19-25, 27-25, 15-25) at Acker Gym Saturday.
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Despite the defeat, the Wildcats made a great effort on paper. Ono's 44 assists were her highest in the last seven matches and was just shy of her career-high 52 set against Cal Poly Humboldt last month. The .248 attack percentage was the highest since the Wildcats took on the Cougars at their place last month.
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Zoe DiNardo and Kassandra Nall combined for 25 of Chico State's 54 kills while Lexi Carpenter had 18 of the Wildcats' 53 digs. Ono also had 11 defensive saves.
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The Cougars finished the day hitting .331 on the attack. Trinity Barr made 20 kills and Tori Goff had 52 assists.
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The third set was quite a battle as neither side led by more than five points. The Cougars were at match point but Alexis Presser got a kill to prevent the clinch. Both sides traded attack miscues to take a point. Nall got a big kill to move ahead and a San Marcos attack error secured the set win for Chico.
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Chico State hits the road one last time starting with a trip to Arcata to play Humboldt again on Thursday at 7 p.m. The Wildcats picked up a four-set win over the Lumberjacks at Acker Gym last month.
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