September 7, 2005

Box Score

Carson, CA -- Cal State Dominguez Hills juniors Ashley Lawler (Newhall, CA/College of the Canyons), Timary More (Torrance, CA/El Camino CC) and Courtney Spainhour (Redondo Beach, CA/El Camino CC) accounted for 43 of the Toros' 65 total kills as CSUDH outlasted a game Grand Canyon squad, taking the 30-28, 17-30, 30-25, 30-25, 18-16 contest.

With the win, CSUDH improves to 3-2 on the season while GCU falls to 4-5.

Four kills apiece by Spainhour and Lawler lead CSUDH to a 30-28 game one win, but the Antelopes responded in game two by outhitting the Toros .276 to -.103 to even the match at one game apiece.

Lawler continued her hot hitting in the next frame with six kills while More added five in the Toros 30-25 game three win, only to see GCU even the match at 2-2 behind four kills by Emily Thompson and a .297 to .000 hitting advantage in game four.

Game five saw momentum again don the Cardinal & Gold as the hosts took an early 5-1 lead on one of More's 15 kills. After the two teams would split the next 18 points, the Antelopes would benefit from three CSUDH attack errors to take a 15-14 lead, needing one point to take the come-from-behind victory.

The Toros, however, would not be denied, as a Kayleigh Spratt (Rohnert Park, CA/Rancho Cotate HS) kill knotted the game at 15-15, and a Spainhour putaway gave CSUDH match point.

GCU, however, would again battle back, tying the final game on a Charise Weatherbee kill. Spainhour, however, would bring to Toros to another match point on her 12th and final kill of the night, and a Spratt service ace would close out game five, 18-16, and the match 3-2.

Lawler tallied match-high honors with 16 kills, while Spainhour added a match-high 26 digs to her 12 kills, giving her the Toros' sole double-double on the evening.

Thompson led the visitors with 13 kills, while Weatherbee and Megan Taylor contributed 11 and 10 kills, respectively, in the loss.

Despite being outhit .230 to .081, the Toros benefitted from 13 service aces against only nine service errors, while GCU committed 17 service errors against just seven service aces at the line, with Spratt and Amber Chauff (Westchester, CA/St. Monica HS) leading the service charge as the combined for eight aces and only one error in the win.

The Toros begin conference action this weekend, hosting Cal State Stanislaus and Chico State on September 9 and September 10, respectively. First serve for both matches begins at 7:00 p.m. in the Torodome.