SAN MARCOS, Calif. – The Cal State San Marcos volleyball team registered a sweep (25-21, 25-19, 25-13) over the Panthers of Adelphi in its 2017 season opener and NCAA Division II debut on Friday afternoon in the Cougar Classic held at The Sports Center. The Cougars (1-1) rallied in the final set before falling in their Friday nightcap by scores of 25-14, 25-19 and 26-24 to the St. Cloud State (Minn.) Huskies.

"Great first win today and competing at home," said head coach Andrea Leonard. "We are working through some lineups and working to find the right fit to put on the court to compete at the highest level and this tournament is a great opportunity for us to work on our competitive spirit against very good teams. We had a great crowd today and are very excited to prepare for two competitive matches tomorrow." 
 
Sophomore outside hitter Maddy Newcombe led the Cougars on the day with 14 kills while junior Courtney Hulla notched 13 kills. Freshman libero Grecia Cordero-Barr collected a team-best 26 digs and three aces. Junior Faith Fortuné finished with eight block assists.
 
In the season opener, CSUSM held the Panthers to a -.016 clip (23k, 25e, 128ta) with 10 total blocks. Junior Lauren Lee came off the bench to dish out 23 assists. Sophomore Eliana Williams went 6-for-12 with two errors for a .333 hitting percentage.
 
CSUSM and Adelphi battled back and forth in the first set before the Cougars rattled off four consecutive points to claim the 25-21 victory. The second set started the same way until the 5-4 point when CSUSM went on a 5-0 run and never looked back to finish at 25-19. In the third and eventual final set, the Cougars never trailed and Cordero-Barr served six consecutive points to take the set and match with a 25-13 victory.
 
In the nightcap, the Cougars found themselves trailing 8-1 in the third set to SCSU after dropping the first two sets 25-14 and 25-19. CSUSM rallied back and evened the set at 22-22 on back-to-back kills by freshman Micah Hebért. A Huskie attacking error gave CSUSM its first lead of the set but SCSU closed out the set with a 4-1 run.
 
The Cougars (1-1) take on Fresno Pacific (1-1) at noon on Saturday, Sept. 2 before facing Saint Martin's (1-1) in the Cougar Classic finale at 6 p.m.