SAN MARCOS -- Cal State LA's women's volleyball team came up big in the clutch once again Tuesday night in a California Collegiate Athletic Association match at Cal State San Marcos.
The No. 14 Golden Eagles roared back from a 2-1 deficit and beat the Cougars, 25-15, 22-25, 18-25, 25-16, 15-10 in another exciting conference battle between CCAA South Division opponents. Cal State LA (15-1, 7-1 CCAA) improved to 5-0 in five-set matches with another come-from-behind victory.
Mickayla Sherman led a balanced attack with 16 kills, two aces and 11 digs.
Daisy Crenshaw had 15 kills and six blocks,
Alejandra Negron had 14 kills, four blocks, three aces and 14 digs and
Karla Santos had 12 kills and 12 digs.
Cal State LA had a 70-50 advantage in kills and hit at a .225 percentage to .168 for the Cougars. Cal State San Marcos had a 14-8 advantage in blocks and Cal State LA had a 6-3 edge in service aces.
Jeshmarie Suarez had a team-high 27 digs and
Kelsey Molnar had 59 set assists for the Golden Eagles.
After jumping out to an 18-7 lead and storming to a first-set win, the Golden Eagles hit some turbulence. Cal State LA took a 21-19 lead in the second set following a kill by Santos, but the Cougars responded with a 5-0 run and evened the match.
Cal State San Marcos then took the third set as well to take a 2-1 lead.
That's when the Golden Eagles dug deep and turned the match around. They jumped out to an 18-11 lead in the fourth set following a block by
Erianna Williams and Sherman and closed out the set on kills by Crenshaw and Negron.
Cal State LA then jumped out to big early leads in the fifth set and wrapped up the match. The Golden Eagles captured the first three points on a block by Negron and Crenshaw and kills by Negron and Santos. The lead grew to 7-1 after a kill by Sherman and to 11-2 after kills by Negron, Sherman, Santos and Williams. A kill by Sherman made it 12-3 and then Cal State San Marcos tried to make things interesting.
The Golden Eagles surrendered five straight points before a Cal State San Marcos service error stopped the run and made it 13-8. A kill by Santos got the Golden Eagles to match point and an attack error ultimately ended the match.
Cal State LA will return to action with a home match against Cal State Dominguez Hills on Saturday at 5 p.m.