4-2
Sacramento State
5-2
Mustangs Capture Championship at Sac St. Tourney
9/7/2013 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
SACRAMENTO, Calif.— With a dominate fifth set win and four players recording 10 or more kills the Mustangs captured the Sacramento State Tournament Championship when they defeated the host Hornets, 3-2, Saturday night. The Mustangs won by set scores of 19-25, 25-15, 25-23, 21-25 and 15-3.
Cal Poly defeated San Jose State, 3-1, in the morning session on Saturday to conclude the tournament 3-0. With the two wins the Mustangs improve to 4-2 on the season.
Cal Poly senior Megan McConnell earned MVP honors while fellow senior, Chelsea Hardin and true freshman Taylor Gruenewld earned all-tournament honors.
Hardin led the Mustangs with 18 kills while sophomore Hannah Schleis tallied 17. McConnell had 14 kills with Gruenewald adding 13.
Shannon Garrett and Maddie Kuber split the setting duties with 26 and 25 assists respectively. Senior Kate Walters led the team with 15 digs with sophomore Nicole Kessler adding 12. McConnell completed her double-double with 11 digs.
The Mustangs recorded 10 total blocks with Marianne Gera credited with one solo and four assisted blocks.
Cal Poly as a team hit .264 for the match, but near perfect .867 in the fifth and deciding set, recording 13 kills on 15 swings with no hitting errors.
The first set opened with the teams trading points until Sac State gained a 7-4 advantage on a block by Chelcy Motes. Cal Poly came back to tie the score at 8-8 on a kill by McConnell and an ace by Schleis. The teams resumed trading points when Sac State went on a quick run and built a 15-12 advantage and would build a five point lead (20-15, finished out the set, 25-19.
The second set opened with the Mustangs hot with a kill by McConnell and two aces by Walters before Sac State got on the board. The Mustangs maintained a four point lead (9-5) on a kill by Gruenewald and then an ace by the freshman. The Hornets closed the gap to four (15-11) with the Cal Poly bench calling timeout. Out of the break Gruenewald tallied a pair of kills to put Cal Poly back up 17-11. The Mustangs kept the pressure on behind a pair of kills from Schleis and one by Gruenewald to hold a 21-13 lead and put away the set, 25-15, on an ace by Garrett.
The Mustangs held their first lead of the third set (6-5) on an attack error by the Hornets and held a two point lead (9-7) on a solo block by McConnell. Sac State tied it up at 11-11 and the teams traded points until a Schleis kill gave the Mustangs a 17-15 advantage. The Hornets tied the set up at 18-18 on two attack errors by the Mustangs and took the lead on an assisted block. Cal Poly gained the advantage, 22-20, on a kill by McConnell and an assisted block by Hardin and Gruenewald. Hardin then put away a kill for a three point lead (23-20), but two quick points by the opponent forced a Cal Poly timeout. Out of the break, kills by Hardin and Gruenewald secured the 25-23 win for the Mustangs.
The fourth set had the teams trading points until Sac State opened up a four point lead, 8-4, and a Cal Poly timeout. A pair of kills by Hardin cut the lead to two, 12-10, forcing Sac State to call a timeout. Down four, 17-13, Cal Poly battled back within one (19-18), but Sac State pushed back and won the set, 25-21, to set up a deciding fifth set.
In the fifth set the Mustangs came out strong, winning the first three points and moved out to a 7-1 lead behind three kills by Hardin. Kills by McConnell and Schleis (9-2) forced a second Sac State timeout. Cal Poly never let up and put away Sac State, 15-3.
In the 3-1 win over San Jose State in the morning session on Saturday, 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 Schleis added 10 kills on 24 swings.
Gruenewald had eight kills along with three total blocks while Kuber had six kills, 40 assists and eight digs.
Steffi Sooter and 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.
