CHICO – Though this is not the final match of the season for the Chico State volleyball team, Zoe DiNardo is making the last weekend in a Wildcat uniform a memorable one as the senior spiked 22 kills and made 16 digs to lead her team to a four-set win (25-22, 20-25, 25-22, 25-20) over Cal State Dominguez Hills Friday afternoon at Acker Gym.
It is the second win in the last three matches for Chico State, which improves to 6-15 overall and 3-14 in the CCAA. The Toros, meanwhile, drop to 10-14 overall and 5-12 in conference play.
DiNardo was not the only senior to make the afternoon battle a memory. Lexi Carpenter also had a double-double performance with 15 digs and 10 assists. Taylor Whyte made 21 defensive stops but came up one kill short from a double-double. Senior Cassidy Herbert also had a twin performance with 11 kills and 10 digs.
Brooke Ono made 14 digs and contributed to 36 assists to increase her career number to 3,269. Already the fifth Wildcat to achieve the 3,000 assists milestone, Ono has one more chance to catch Christy McCune's (1998-2001) record of 3,321 which ranks fourth all-time.
The seven seniors will be honored prior to Saturday's finale against Cal State LA. The ceremony begins at 12:40 p.m. and first serve is scheduled for 1 p.m.
The opening set was a tight battle, with each side having led by at least three points. Down 22-19, DiNardo got the side out with a kill and with her serving the Wildcats went on to win the remainder of the set to take the opening round.
After the Toros took the second set thanks to two sets of 3-point rallies along with a 5-0 run, the Wildcats found themselves down 13-9 in the third set. Brooklynn Anderson got the Wildcats to sideout and when on to win nine of the next 10 serves to take a 19-14 lead. Dominguez Hills got two of those points back to keep it close but Chico State got the final points to take a 2-1 match lead.
Dominguez Hills had an 8-5 lead early into the fourth game. The 'Cats reversed the serve over to them and went on a 4-point run to take a 10-8 lead. The sides would battle a close fight until the Wildcats went on a 6-2 rally to establish a 19-16 lead. Chico State would win six of the remaining nine serves to take the match.
