Box Score
LOS ANGELES, Calif.— Sometimes it's good to shake things up. It certainly didn't hurt the Cal State San Marcos women's volleyball team Friday evening against the host Occidental Tigers, as the Cougars rolled to a straight set victory in Los Angeles 25-18, 25-11, 25-18.
With the Cougars still missing the presence of senior outside hitter
Lindsey Sappington, head coach
Andrea Leonard elected to try team captain
Nichole May— who hasn't played anything but libero this season— at the position. The team responded with a dazzling .287 overall team hitting percentage, the second highest the Cougars have recorded in the last 24 games.
May— who had just seven kills on the season prior to Friday's game due to her crucial role in stopping opposing attackers— recorded nine kills and 10 digs in the contest.
Taylor DeGraaf led all scorers with 11 kills and five service aces, and the trio of
Erin Talafus,
Andi Vordermann, and
Brittany Thompson contributed nine, eight, and seven kills, respectfully. The balanced attack caused problems for the Tigers defense all night.
Meanwhile, capably filling in the shoes of May at libero was junior outside hitter
Jaycee Arthur, who was also playing out of her normal position on the evening. Arthur finished with a game high 13 digs, and helped frustrate the Occidental attack to just a .073 hitting percentage through the first two sets. Setter
Alyssa Foster tallied a game high 38 assists for the Cougars.
Coach Leonard was impressed with the performance, noting that “the past week in practice we have been working on individual assignments and I felt as though we really executed that tonight. A lot of the players are really stepping up and contributing. Occidental is a strong program and quality opponent, but our girls played very well.”
With the victory, CSUSM snaps a three-game losing streak and improves to 19-11 on the year. Occidental drops to 15-8 with the loss. The Cougars will turn around quickly and play again Saturday as they host Embry-Riddle (Ariz.) at Escondido High School starting at 6:00 pm.
