Carson, CA - Freshman Arreana Peoples (West Covina, CA/John A. Rowland HS) enjoyed her coming out party as she led the Toros with 27 kills and a .575 hitting percentage in a 3-2 win over visiting Humboldt State, snapping CSUDH's three-match losing streak and picking up their second conference win of the year. With the 30-25, 28-30, 30-27, 30-32, 15-11 victory, CSUDH improves to 5-10, 2-7 CCAA, while Humboldt State drops to 6-7, 3-6 CCAA.
After a slow start in game one, CSUDH would knot the game at 9-9 on a kill by Penina Suddeth (Hesperia, CA/Hesperia HS), and then slowly pull away from HSU and maintain control for the rest of the game.
The 'Jacks would come out quickly in game two and build a large lead early. With the score 17-12 in favor of HSU, TaMesha Jefferson (Lancaster, CA/Antelope Valley College) would end the Lumberjacks' run with a kill, and start the CSUDH comeback.
The Toros would whittle the 'Jacks lead and tie the game at 28-28 on one of many kills by Peoples, but Megahn Berndt would block the Toros attacker to take the lead at 29-28, after which Liz Shannon would finish off CSUDH with a game-ending service ace.
The intermission would seemingly not be kind to the Toros as they found themselves down 13-4 in game three, with HSU building momentum with every swing.
CSUDH would begin to chip away at the lead behind the serves of Tiffany Bull (Lake Los Angeles, CA/Antelope Valley College), who would serve three aces as part of her four-consecutive points to put the Toros with in striking distance at 12-15.
With the Toros down 15-19 Peoples would begin to go to work, recording three-straight kills followed by a kill from Sophia Lopes (Los Angeles, CA/Santa Monica College) to tie the game at 19-19. CSUDH would never lose the lead the rest of the game, and take game three by a 30-27 count.
Game four would see the two teams battle back and forth the entire way, ultimately having to exceed the 30-point mark to settle the game. In the end, HSU would just edge out the Toros with the 32-30 victory, sending the two teams to a deciding fifth frame.
Any momentum the 'Jacks had after game four was quickly erased by the Toros as CSUDH led from point 1 through 15, finishing off HSU with a block by Peoples and Courtney Spainhour (Redondo Beach, CA/El Camino CC).
The 'Jacks were led by Katie Norkunas with 18 kills, 10 digs, five service aces and two block assists, while Mallory Briney added 10 kills and libero Maya Domoto 26 digs in the loss.
In addition to Peoples' 27 kills, Suddeth would record her sixth double-double of the season with 15 kills and 17 digs while Spainhour would add her third double-double of the year with 13 kills and 22 digs. Timary More (Torrance, CA/El Camino CC) and Jefferson would also be in double figures with 14 and 12 kills, respectively. Setter Bull would dish out a match-high 42 assists, while Kayleigh Spratt (Rohnert Park, CA/Rancho Cotate HS) added 35 assists and 10 digs, good for her second-straight double-double.
CSUDH will next be in action tomorrow afternoon against Sonoma State, with the first serve scheduled for 3:00 pm in the Torodome.
