August 24, 2006
La Jolla, CA -- CSUDH's volleyball team got off to a rough start to kick off the 2006 campaign, dropping both matches on day one of the three-day UC San Diego-hosted Triton Classic in La Jolla. The Toros took the first two games in its opener against Western Washington, but dropped the final three in the 27-30, 26-30, 30-20, 30-14, 18-16 loss against the Vikings. CSUDH didn't fare much better in the afternoon contest as it was swept by Seattle University, 30-20, 30-28, 30-17.
In the opener, freshman Penina Suddeth (Hesperia, CA/Hesperia HS) and senior Nicole Hoffman (Clovis, CA/Fresno CC) provided most of the punch with 13 and 11 kills, respectively, while senior libero Maria Miranda (Lakewood, CA/Cerritos CC) picked up 20 digs, but WWU outside hitter Marissa Hill tallied 11 kills, eight digs, five service aces and two blocks in the Vikings' comeback win. WWU also got a match-high 16 kills from Jaime Anderson and 12 kills and four blocks each from Tiana Roma and Angie Alvord, while the Toros' TaMesha Jefferson (Lancaster, CA/Antelope Valley College) and Randi Johnson (Rancho Palos Verdes, CA/Campbell University) provided eight and seven kills in the losing effort.
As a team, CSUDH hit just .138 and recorded just three blocks at the net, while WWU finished with a 16-5 advantage in service aces, a .205 hitting percentage and eight blocks, including a .414 hitting percentage in the critical game 4 which cemented the momentum-swing after the Toros took the first two games. Junior Tiffany Bull recorded 33 assists as the Toros held four-point leads on two occasions in the 5th and deciding game, including two match points at 14-12, but the Vikings outscored the Toros 6-2 over the final eight points to take the win.
In the afternoon match the Toros would keep pace with the Redhawks to start the match, taking a slim 4-3 lead in game one on a kill by Johnson. SU would capture its first lead of the match two serves later on a Toro attacking error and would not look back.
Game two would start out like the first, with the Toros taking an early 8-6 lead on a service ace by Timary More (Torrance, CA/El Camino CC). Seattle would use back-to-back kills by Nikole Thompson to take its first lead of the game at 10-9 but the Toros would put up a fight, knotting that game at 19-19 on a kill by Ashley Lawler (Newhall, CA/College of the Canyons), and would eventually take back the lead at 26-25 when Hoffman and Tiffany Bull (Lake Los Angeles, CA/Antelope Valley College) put up a wall and rejected the Redhawk attacker. After trading points over the next few serves, Seattle slowly inched away and gabbed the two-point win.
Game two seemed to take all that the Toros had, as Seattle ran away with game three and completed the sweep.
For the Toros, Suddeth would again lead the team in kills with 12, while hitting at a .240 clip and picking up 13 digs, good for the first double-double of her young collegiate career.
Seattle would put three Redhawks in double figures as Haley Burym Nikole Thompson, and Libby Graff recorded 13, 11, and 10 kills respectively, while setter Tori Ross dished out 32 assists.
CSUDH would continue at the UCSD Triton Invitational tomorrow, when they take on Mesa State at 1pm and Bryant University at 7pm.
