Box Score ESCONDIDO, Calif.— The Cal State San Marcos volleyball team held strong in a tight matchup against 16th ranked Vanguard in its home finale Friday evening, coming within two points of forcing a decisive fifth set. The match featured countless long rallies, powerful blasts offensively, and phenomenal diving efforts defensively from both squads, but the Cougars were unable to tame the Lions, falling 20-25, 25-22, 19-25, 23-25.

Freshman Markisha Henderson-Diaz led the way for the Cougars with 12 kills and a .409 hitting percentage, while Taylor DeGraaf added 10 kills and a team best 16 digs for San Marcos.

The Lions came out on fire, hitting .400 in the first set to take a 1-0 lead, but the Cougars bounced back in the second frame. Trailing 17-16, the Cougars wrapped off five straight points to take a 21-17 edge that they never relinquished.

Looking to take advantage of the largely filled gym that erupted with new life, the Cougars traded points with the Lions to even the score at 10 all before Vanguard slowly crept away to take the third set.

In the fourth, CSUSM rallied from as many as five points down to take a 23-22 lead, needing just two points to push the game to a final fifth set, but a kill by Charlotte Heerlyn tied the score at 23 and back-to-back kills by Jessica Neves put the game away for Vanguard.

Setter Alyssa Foster had 36 assists and 12 digs to go along with her six kills and three blocks at the net, while libero Taylor Harris added 15 digs with solid composure and passing not often found in freshman. Kelli McLin, who played libero for a large portion of the season, had a strong game as an attacker in tallying nine kills and six blocks. Brittani Esposito had three of the team's five service aces, and racked up 12 digs as well.

CSUSM drops to 21-9 with the loss, while Vanguard improves to 16-5. The Cougars will look to bounce back Saturday as they face Hope International on the road in Fullerton at 7:00pm.