Box Score ARCATA -- Cal State L.A.'s women's volleyball team had quite a rollercoaster ride on Thursday night in its California Collegiate Athletic Association opener at Humboldt State.
The Golden Eagles rallied from a 2-1 deficit and outlasted the Lumberjacks, 24-26, 25-9, 21-25, 25-17, 15-6 in Lumberjack Arena. Cal State L.A. (6-3, 1-0 CCAA) played in its fifth five-set match already this season and improved to 3-2 in those lengthy battles.
Iona Lofrano had a career-high 27 kills and hit at a .404 percentage to lead the Golden Eagles, while Kymberly Silveya had 22 kills and hit at a .383 clip.
Loreal Carter had 11 kills and four blocks, while
Alexandra Bura had 57 set assists.
Humboldt State (5-3, 0-1 CCAA) got 12 kills each from Ashley Owen and Symone Hayden.
Cal State L.A. had a 71-45 advantage in kills and hit at a .306 percentage to just .083 for Humboldt State. The Golden Eagles also had a 10-7 advantage in blocks and had six aces and seven service errors.
April Reyes had a match-high 24 digs for the Golden Eagles.
Cal State L.A. started slowly and set itself up for a lengthy match by dropping the opening set. The Golden Eagles dug themselves out of a 20-14 hole and eventually knotted the set at 24-24 after a kill by Lofrano and an ace by
Bethanee Boggs. Humboldt State, though, responded with kills by Hayden and Kaitlyn Dunaway to take the opening frame.
Cal State L.A. bounced back in a big way in the second set, racing out to a 5-0 behind the serving of Bura and never looking back. A long serving run by
JamieAnn Bero opened up a 19-7 advantage and the Golden Eagles finally put the set away on kills by Boggs, Lofrano and
Lauren Gomez.
The Golden Eagles, though, promptly lost their momentum and found themselves trailing in the match after falling in the third set. Cal State L.A. jumped out to a big early lead and cruised to a 25-17 win in the fourth frame, setting up a match-deciding fifth set.
Cal State L.A. raced to an 8-0 lead behind some outstanding serving by Bura and kept a safe lead the rest of the way. A kill by Lofrano gave the Golden Eagles a 13-3 lead, a kill by Carter made it 14-5 and a kill by Lofrano ended the match.
Cal State L.A. will return to action on Saturday night with a road match at Cal Poly Pomona.
