The Tritons ended their six-game winning streak at San Francisco State, after beating the nationally-ranked Sonoma State last Friday, Oct. 5.

UCSD defeated No. 22 Sonoma in five sets on the road last Friday.

Freshmen Danielle Dahle and Sophie Rowe led the Tritons in the close game with 39 kills collectively. Dahle — who is fourth overall in the CCAA in kills per set with 3.68 — also had two blocking assists to Rowe’s three. Rowe also led the Tritons with 25 digs.

Sophomore Sara McCutchan had arguably the best individual performance for UCSD, with balanced and dominant play on both the offense and defense. McCutchan has played at a consistently high level with 13 kills, nine digs, and eight blocking assists per game. She has averaged the fifth most blocks per set in the CCAA with 1.03.

Sophomore Amber Hawthorne had 54 assists without an error, nine kills and 13 digs.

Sonoma took the first game from UCSD with eight tie scores and five lead changes, with a final score of 25–21.

The match tightened in the second game, with 21 tie scores and 10 lead changes. UCSD out hit Sonoma 20–18 and had two less errors to help the team earn the 30–28 set win.

Into the third game, UCSD began strong but Sonoma overcame the Tritons for the final time of the night 25–22. In the fourth and fifth sets, UCSD simply outplayed Sonoma across the board.

With the victory, the Tritons improved to 6–1 in CCAA as they headed to San Francisco State to take on the unranked Gators, who just conceded a loss to CSU San Bernardino.

Last Saturday, Oct. 6 in San Francisco, UCSD suffered a wake-up call, falling to the Gators in three sets.

The Tritons were outhit by more than five kills in all three sets. “We came out flat tonight against a good team,” UCSD Head Coach Ricci Luyties said to the UCSD Athletics Department. “San Francisco was ready to play and kept its energy throughout the entire match.”

Dahle had 15 kills and nine digs, and Rowe tallied eight kills with five errors and 17 digs.

But without Lauren Demos, who has been out for the past two games with a sprained ankle, there was a glaring hole on the Tritons’ side of the net. “[Demos] brings a lot to the team,” Luyties said. “Personality-wise and in encouraging her teammates, it’s a hard thing to lose.”

McCutchan, too, wasn’t herself with only three kills on four errors. However, McCutchan still led UCSD with three blocks.

In the first set, San Francisco took the first three points, while UCSD stayed stagnant until halfway through the set. But it was too little, too late.

Rowe and Dahle tallied the majority of the Triton kills in the set. The two teams battled through three tie scores, with UCSD eventually falling 25–27.

“We didn’t play our best match I think,” Luyties said. “We had a few players that were off against [San Francisco], yet we were still close in games one and three. We still aren’t as consistent as we want to be right now. ”

The second and third sets, UCSD had places where they took advantage of SFSU’s errors and rally to take brief leads, but fell with scores of 18–25 and 22–25, respectively.

This Wednesday, Oct. 10, UCSD travels to San Bernardino to take on the 7–1 Coyotes.

“I hope we learn from this that each match we play for the rest of the year is going to be a tough battle,” Luyties said.

In a constant struggle for first place in the CCAA, the Tritons will look for a win against CSU San Bernardino to remain near the top of the table.