SAN FRANCISCO -- Cal State LA's women's volleyball team came just short in a California Collegiate Athletic Association battle of nationally-ranked teams Saturday afternoon in Main Gym at the Don Nasser Family Plaza.

The No. 21 Golden Eagles split the first two sets and appeared poised to make the match a five-set contest, but No. 23 San Francisco State scored the final five points to put the finishing touches on a 26-24, 22-25, 25-18, 26-24 victory at home. Cal State LA (13-6, 8-4 CCAA) slips two games behind second-place San Francisco State (16-4, 10-2 CCAA) with six conference matches remaining. The Gators remain two games back of first-place Cal Poly Pomona.

Emily Elliott had 14 kills, three aces, three blocks, and 18.5 points for the Golden Eagles as she moved closer to the CCAA's career kills mark. She now has 1,817 and is just 26 behind the record held by Cal State San Bernardino's Kim Ford (2000-03).

Samarah DaCoud also had 14 kills and hit at a .400 percentage. She had five blocks and 10 digs. Haley Roundtree had seven kills and nine blocks and hit at a .429 percentage.

Tamiya Wilson had a match-high 22 kills for the Gators, while Anastacia Garza had 10 kills and four blocks.

Ashlyn Beaver and Arielle Chandler had 17 set assists each, while Mackenzie Wolff, in her first appearance of the season, had six kills in three sets.

San Francisco State had a 54-47 advantage in kills, while the Golden Eagles hit at a .280 percentage of .215 for the Gators. Cal State LA had a big 16-5 advantage in blocks. The Gators had a big edge at the service line, collecting 16 aces with 10 errors to just four aces and 12 errors for the Golden Eagles.

Cal State LA jumped out to an 11-5 lead in the opening set behind a strong serving run from Rebecca Topete, but the Gators fought back and took a 24-22 lead after a late 4-0 run. A block by Roundtree and DaCoud and a bad set by the Gators tied it at 24-24 before San Francisco State got back-to-back kills from Wilson to take the set.

Cal State LA took the second set to even the match, getting a solo block by Wolff and a kill by Wolff to close out the set.

The Gators, though, used an 8-0 run to open up a 24-14 lead in the third set, getting a kill by Kimberly DeBoer to take a 2-1 lead.

Cal State LA had its chances to force a fifth set, grabbing a 22-19 lead after an ace by Elliott and getting to set point at 24-21 after a kill by Elliott and a block by DaCoud and Roundtree. San Francisco State, though, responded by scoring the final five points of the match for the win.

Cal State LA will return to action with a home match on Friday against Cal State East Bay at 5 p.m.