The UCSD women’s volleyball team headed up the coast in pursuit of a crucial Collegiate Conference Athletic Association victory and were successful in their endeavor, pulling out a victory in one of it’s most hotly contested matches to date.
Guardian
Sonoma State University proved a worthy challenger, which is something that most teams are unable to claim as of late.
Sonoma State took the Tritons to a full, five-game match at Rohnert Park before finally succumbing to defeat.
Both came out strong in the initial set, and it took extra points for Sonoma to take the game 17-15.
Guardian
This early struggle did little to discourage the Tritons, however, as they blasted back in the second set for a 15-9 win.
Fatigue set in for both sides come the third game. Playing three games against a tough opponent takes a lot out of a team, but UCSD had the little bit of extra strength necessary to take the fourth game 15-13.
Sonoma State, though, was not about to just roll over and die after all the hard work, and it came out fired up for the fourth, beating the Tritons 15-12 to force the fifth and deciding game.
Both teams dug deep in this final set, and came out with an infused intensity.
It just was not in the cards for the Sonoma Stat squad, however, as the Tritons took the game and the match with a narrow 15-13 victory in the final game.
UCSD was led by standout performances from some of the athletes that have been outstanding all season.
Laura Santerre was brilliant on the court. Agan she really rose to the occasion under the added pressure.
Her 27 kills led the Triton side in the match, and her 23 digs were second only to teammate Leslie Punelli, who compiled an outstanding tally of 37 for the night.
Jennie Wilson also had an impressive evening, chalking up 20 kills and 14 digs for the blue and gold in helping her team pull out the big victory.
Sonoma’s losing squad was led by Christine Shiba, who had 21 kills for the home team in the losing effort.
The Tritons also had a big match at San Francisco State on Saturday. Unfortunately, results were not available to the Guardian at the time of publishing. Next weekend will be another huge opportunity for the Tritons side to pick up key CCAA victories. They play both Cal State Bakersfield and Cal State Stanislaus in some tough divisional play.
