Sonoma State’s Seawolves dealt HSU Volleyball a tough 3-0 (25-15, 25-20, 25-10) loss at home Friday afternoon. The loss is the Lumberjacks fifth in a row and their fourth consecutive loss by shutout.
“Such a backwards night for us,” said Jacks defensive specialist Odelia Ryan. “We’ve been saying we want to make progress each week and tonight we didn’t.”
The Seawolves came out hot as they ran up an 8-0 lead over the Jacks. HSU was slow at the gate, but as the game progressed they found a rhythm that brought them back up to a sore of 8-11.
“They didn’t make mistakes coming out,” Ryan said. “They made bad first touches better and got kills off of them, and we didn’t.”
The second set was the most evenly fought set of the match, but that didn’t stop the Seawolves from opening hot with a 5-0 lead. The Jacks remained competitive, but the Seawolves 10 point lead called for a timeout by Jacks Head Coach Kelly Wood.
With a new mindset the Jacks pulled five fast points to bring the set’s score to 14-19. HSU compiled a match high with a .108 hitting percentage in this set, but ultimately the Seawolves snapped back into a groove and put them away at 25-20.
“We had great offense that set,” said middle blocker Emma Flewell. “It is just that nothing was happening at the same time. We would have good serve receive and couldn’t run the offense or vice versa.”
Any momentum the Jacks compiled in the second set was extinguished in the 3rd. The Seawolves scored six of the first seven points in the match and ended on a 7-0 run to finish the night with a lopsided 25-10 victory.
“They got lucky and caught us on a bad night,” said junior outside hitter Lauren Reid. “This loss is more of a mental failure, we can physically keep up with a team like this, it was just their night not ours.”
Reid was a crucial part of the offense as she finished with seven of the Jacks 22 kills in the match, four of which she tallied in the first set.
Sophomore setter Juliana Bertolucci set her teammates up throughout the night as she recorded 13 of the Jacks 18 assists. On the defensive end, sophomore middle blocker Hannah Cantrell led the way with four blocks and senior outside hitter Natalie Picone recorded 12 digs.
“Different mindsets need to be on the same page next game,” said Reid. “We’re going to work on cohesiveness because we need to think for team plays and not individual ones.”
The Green and Gold will have ample time to work out the kinks in their play before resuming conference play against Chico State on Friday, Sept. 28 at 7 p.m. at the Lumberjack Arena.
