Toros Push, But Pioneers Push Harder in 3-1 Win

Freshman Azieanna Smith showed her early season form on Friday night

CARSON -- With Friday's match against Cal State East Bay marking the beginning of the second half of CCAA play, improved play was expected from both the coaches and the players. Friday night's box score may show a four set loss (20-25, 25-17, 25-15, 25-18) by the Cal State Dominguez Hills volleyball team but it was yet another step in the right direction for the program. Freshman Azieanna Smith showed her early season life again, smashing nine kills to go along with six digs.

Set one was about maintaining and the Toros took the lead from the first point and never gave it up. With the set tied at 17, CSUDH ran off four points before CSU East Bay responded and seemed to gain some momentum and close the score to 22-20. Showing her coach's intuition, Toros head coach Jennifer Adeva called timeout to regroup her team.

It proved to be perfect timing as CSUDH went on to score the last three points and take set one 25-20. Smith smashed four kills on only five swings in the set.

The second and third sets were a wash for the Toros as they were unable to get any offense going, being outkilled 35-20 by the Pioneers. CSUEB hit over 37% in both sets and hurt the Toros with a combined five aces. Sophomore Elizabeth Krieger led in both sets with five kills in the second set and three in the third.

Set four was close throughout with neither team able to pull away over the first 13 points. CSUEB tried to gap the Toros by scoring five straight before CSUDH responded with four of the next five to make it 19-17 deficit, but the Pioneers flexed their muscles and pulled away, taking the set 25-18.

For the match CSUDH was outkilled by 20 (63-43) with CSU East Bay also hitting better percentage at .326 to .189. Krieger led the team with 14 kills while juniors Rose Greco and Delea Pursel led in digs (11) and blocks (2), respectively. Sophomore Abbey Prusa chipped in with eight kills and one block on the evening.

The Cal State Dominguez Hills Toros will return to the court Saturday, October 15 against Cal State Monterey Bay on "Dig For A Cure" night. The match is set to begin at 7:00pm with the nationwide live audio broadcast set to begin at 6:40pm on GoToros.com/live.

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