LOS ANGELES -- The Cal State Dominguez Hills volleyball team showed a lot of life at crosstown rival Cal State LA this afternoon, but the Golden Eagles held on for a competitive 25-22, 28-26, 25-20 sweep over the Toros at University Gym.
The setback extends CSUDH's losing streak to 10, falling to 2-20 overall and 1-12 in California Collegiate Athletic Association action.
Rilee Graham paced the Toros with 10 kills and a .333 hitting percentage as CSUDH hit a respectful .213 as a team.
After splitting set one's first 10 points, CSUDH went on a 3-0 run with the last point coming via an
Anna Sanzaro service ace, but the hosts answered with five straight for a 10-8 lead. Undaunted, CSUDH answered with its own 5-0 run behind
Giovannina De Sisto's serve, increasing its advantage to 17-13 after a kill by
Jordan Kennedy.
CSULAÂ caught the Toros at 18-18 and outscored the Cardinal and Gold 7-4 down the stretch to claim the first set.
The visitors stormed to a 10-4 lead in set two, with
Jaidan Alexander serving two aces in a 5-0 run. Despite CSULA catching the Toros at 13 all, CSUDH regrouped to take a 19-16 lead after a CSULA attack error before the hosts stormed back to hold two set points at 24-22. Behind
Natalia Walden-Schulz's serve, the Toros scored three straight to take a 25-24 lead but a bad set and CSULA ace gave the Golden Eagles another set point in the back-and-forth frame.
A CSULA attack error to knot the set gave the Toros hope, but the hosts benefited from consecutive kills to take the set and a two sets to none lead.
That seemed to take the wind out of CSUDH's sails as CSULA took a 7-2 lead in set three, increasing it to 22-12 late. The Toros mounted a late rally by scoring five-straight points to cut their deficit to 22-17, but the hosts took three of the final six points to take the set and the sweep.
Alexander added seven kills in the loss, with
Makena Morrison adding a team-high nine digs.
The Toros conclude the regular season with a pair of home matches next week, kicking off with San Francisco State visiting the Torodome on Thursday for a 5 pm first serve.
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