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Playing their first-ever regular season match, the Cal State San Marcos women's volleyball team won in convincing fashion Thursday morning at the Azusa Pacific Cougar Classic, beating the Holy Names University Hawks in straight sets 25-19, 25-22, 25-17.
Under Head Coach Andrea Leonard, the newest sport on campus at CSUSM shined in its debut, despite having only practiced together for a couple weeks.
Erin Talafus recorded the first point in program history with a kill assisted by Alyssa Foster as the Cougars took a 1-0 lead to open the game. The Cougars lead was short-lived however, and they found themselves trailing the opposing Hawks 13-7 early on. Following a timeout by Coach Leonard, the Cougars responded in a big way, scoring 7 straight points to take a 14-13 lead sparked by several big kills from junior outside hitter Lindsey Mitchell, who finished with a team high 11 kills. The first set was tied 15-15 after a controversial point was taken away from the Cougars, but after that CSUSM took the lead and never looked back, taking the first set 25-19 on Freshman Kelli McLin's spike to end it.
The second set was close throughout, and the Cougars had to scramble when McLin had to exit the court with an injury. Fortunately, Junior Brittany Thompson stepped up and played the middle for the first time in her volleyball career until McLin was able to return. CSUSM led 24-22 until Junior Teanna Robinson slammed home the winning point to take the second set. Robinson played the first set as the libero, but ended up being more of an offensive threat in the 2nd and 3rd sets, recording 8 kills and only 2 errors in 23 attempts.
Up 2 sets and in control, the Cougars jumped to an early lead in the 3rd set, and were leading 18-8 at one point before Holy Names went on a run to close the gap to 19-14. Freshman Kara Barkdoll sealed the victory for the Cougars with an assist from her high school teammate Alyssa Foster. Barkdoll (9 kills) and Foster (39 assists) won back-to-back state championships together at Central Catholic High School in Oregon before re-joining on the court on Thursday to help lead the CSUSM volleyball to its first victory.
The Cougars play Eastern Oregon later this afternoon at 2:30 as play continues in the Azusa Pacific Tournament through Saturday. The Cougars' first home match will be Tuesday, September 13 at Escondido High School against San Diego Christian at 8:00pm.
