3-2
San Jose State
1-4
McConnell Leads Mustangs Past San Jose State in Four Sets
9/7/2013 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
SACRAMENTO, Calif. – The Cal Poly volleyball team improved to 3-2 on the season when senior outside hitter Megan McConnell tallied a double-double in leading the team to a 3-1 victory over San Jose State (1-4) in the morning session on Saturday at the Sacramento State Tournament. Cal Poly will return to action at 7 pm when they play the Hornets.
McConnell recorded 20 kills on 56 swings (.286) and recorded a team-high 15 digs. Senior middle blocker Jennifer Keddy tallied 10 kills on 15 swings with no hitting errors (.667) while sophomore outside hitter Hannah added 10 kills on 24 swings.
Freshman Taylor Gruenewald had eight kills along with three total blocks while setter Maddie Kuber had six kills, 40 assists and eight digs.
Steffi Sooter and Kate Walters had 13 and 11 digs respectively.
Hanah Blume led SJSU with 18 kills with Mary Alice O'Reilly adding 14.
Cal Poly hit .319 for the match while SJSU hit .273. Each team served up five aces with the Mustangs holding a 63-56 advantage in digs.
In the first set the teams traded points until SJSU gained a two point advantage (6-4) on a kill. SJSU upped the advantage to five (15-10) and closed out the set on a 10-6 run to win, 25-16.
The teams again traded points with neither team gaining more than a two point advantage in the second set until Schleis tallied a kill for a 9-6 advantage. Cal Poly used a 6-0 run to gain a 12-6 advantage capped by a kill by Kuber. A kill by Keddy kept the Mustangs up 15-10 and a service ace by Sooter gave Cal Poly a 19-12 advantage with SJSU calling timeout. The Mustangs closed the second set on a 6-3 run and a 25-15 second set win to even the match.
Cal Poly moved out to a 6-2 advantage early in the third set on consecutive kills by Kuber, McConnell and Schleis. The Mustangs gained an 8-3 advantage on a kill by Keddy to force a SJSU timeout. Back-to-back aces by Kate Walters put the Mustangs up seven (10-3). SJSU cut the lead to two (15-13) on a service ace by Michaela Leonard and pulled within one (16-15) on a Cal Poly attack error, but the teams traded points with the Mustangs maintain the lead. SJSU finally tied the set at 20-20 and took the lead on the next play to force a Cal Poly timeout. Cal Poly came out of the break and scored two quick points to regain the lead. Kills by Gruenewald and Schleis sealed the set for the Mustangs (25-23) and put them up 2-1 in sets.
The fourth set went the way of the previous sets with neither team able to pull away until a kill by Keddy gave the Mustangs a 9-7 lead. SJSU came back to tie the set at 14-14 with the teams trading points until the Mustangs took a three point advantage (23-20) on kills by McConnell and Gruenewald. A kill by Gruenewald and an ace by Walters put the set (25-21) and the match (3-1) away for the Mustangs.
