Carson, CA - The Toro defense picked up 103 digs to the Otters' 84 and had five players in double-figures led by Jenise Espindola's game-high 26 digs, but the visiting Otters of Cal State Monterey Bay crept by the Toros in a close four-game battle, 30-19, 30-26, 22-30, 29-31. With the loss CSUDH falls to 2-21, 1-11 CCAA and CSUMB improves to 9-15, 6-6 CCAA.
The Toros seemed as though they were not quite awake for the early match start time in game one, falling behind early and never recovering. The CSUDH offense was held to a .105 hitting percentage while the Otters hit at a .316 clip.
Down 10-7 in game two, the Toro capitalized on a pair of Otter errors and a block assist by Marissa Anderson and Travette Pettigrew to fight back and knot the game at 11-11.
After battling to ties at 13-13, 14-14, 16-16, 18-18, and 19-19, the Toros pulled away behind kills from Sophia Lopes to build a slim 25-21 lead.
Kills from the Otters Courtney Taubert and Brittney Etchings reversed the momentum, however, and tied the game once again at 25-25 and 26-26, before Toro errors down the stretch handed CSUMB the game.
After the intermission the Toros fired out of the gate behind Espindola's strong serve to build a 12-2 lead. Although CSUMB slowly chipped away at the deficit, the Toros kept the Otters at arms length to take game three.
CSUDH came out quickly in game four, building a 6-2 on a kill from setter Tiffany Bull, but the Otters battled back and tied the game at 10-10, and then built a 16-13 lead on a kill by Etchings off a set from Kelsey Bugary.
After the CSUMB run to take the lead, the Toros regrouped, tied and then took the lead on back-to-back kills from Lopes to put CSUDH up one at 19-18.
The team eventually tied at 27-27 before CSUDH grabbed at two-point lead after an Otter service error and kill from Ashley Clark to stand at game point, but CSUMB would not stop, battling back and re-knotting the game at 29-29 after which Christine Ricketts pounded down a pair of kills to take the game and the match.
CSUMB was led by Ricketts' 15 kills, while Etchings and Taubert chipped in 14 and 10 kills, respectively.
Lopes garnered game-high honors with 24 kills and 21 digs for her 10th double-double of the season, while defensive specialist Melissa Velasco picked up 12 digs with senior Kayleigh Spratt adding 10 digs. Bull dished out a game-high 42 assists and picked up 15 digs for her third double-double of the season.
Cal State Dominguez Hills continues conference action tomorrow afternoon as Sonoma State pays the Torodome a visit with first save scheduled for 3:00 pm.
